Meryem Nekkach, Anas Basbousi, Nouhaila Arif, Ismail Adouab
Nabil Ayouch (Horses of God, Much Loved) returns with this scrappy, exuberant, and tremendously likeable musical, screened in Competition at Cannes 2021. A highly personal film, it’s set in the Casablanca neighbourhood of Sidi Moumen, where Ayouch lives, and where his 2012 drama Horses of God was also set – but while that film dealt with Sidi Moumen’s notoriety as a haven for terrorism, Casablanca Beats offers an optimistic vision for the future in the form of the neighbourhood’s youth. Filmed over two years at Les Etoiles de Sidi Moumen, the cultural centre co-founded by Ayouch in 2014, it features a group of the centre’s former students.
Under the guidance of former rapper Anas (Anas Basbousi), the founder of the cultural centre’s hip hop programme, the students discuss and debate the cultural issues and forces that shape their lives as they work towards planning a concert. Showcasing talents from beatboxing to improvising to rap, the performers spill out of the classroom, with thrilling dance sequences taking place in the streets and alleyways of Sidi Moumen, and the group’s young women in particular defiantly claiming the opportunity to take up space and be seen and heard. A celebration of a neighbourhood, its youth and their transformative creativity, Casablanca Beats is a vibrant, rousing story of self-expression, self-empowerment and the potential for social change.
