20 years after its first theatrical release, one of director Nabil Ayouch’s first films, Ali Zaoua, will be released on October 26, 2022 in a restored version: Image 4K.
According to the project’s promoters, the same editing experience was unprecedented, even for viewers who had seen it on the big screen at the time. It is also an opportunity for the younger generation to discover the film in very good conditions.
But beyond the visual pleasure that this remasterisation offers, Ali Zaoua’s breakthrough is an opportunity for Nabil Ayouch to put the subject of street children back at the heart of the public debate and to (re)sensitize all the forces acting.
“I make films because I have the weakness to believe that a film can change things, or at least change the real to some extent. Twenty years ago, when I decided to make a film about and with street children as my main heroes, it was to denounce a situation that seemed unacceptable to me in our society,” he said.
“I make films because I have the weakness to believe that a film can change things, or at least change the real to some extent. Twenty years ago, when I decided to make a film about and with street children as my main heroes, it was to denounce a situation that seemed unacceptable to me in our society,” he said.
He added: “20 years later, the situation is almost the same. It continues to upset me. Bringing out Ali Zaoua two decades later is not only a cultural news but also an activist action that aims to raise awareness and recall the enormous work done every day on the ground by the associative fabric, which needs to be supported by all.”
As of Wednesday, October 26, the new version of the film Ali Zaoua will be broadcast in the main cinemas across the Kingdom.
This remastered version of Ali Zaoua will also be available on the Moroccan and independent cinema platform Aflamin (aflamin.com).
Highly acclaimed by audiences and critics alike, Ali Zaoua has received 44 awards from the world’s largest international and national film festivals, including the Grand Prize for Best Film at the 2000 Stockholm International Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Mediterranean Film Festival in Brussels 2000, the Best Supporting Actor and Grand Prize for Best Film at the Khouribga African Film Festival 2000, Pre-nomination for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film 2001, the Grand Prize, the Best Film Award, Best Director Award, Best Editing Award and Best Actors Award at the Alexandria International Film Festival 2001, Etalon d’Or (Grand Prix) at the Pan-African Festival of Ouagadougou Fespaco 2001, Grand Prize, UNICEF Prize 2001, or the Audience Prize at the Black Movie Festival, a film from other worlds in Geneva 2002.