Ziyara

    • Simone Bitton
    • France, Morocco
    • 2020
    • 99 min
    • World Premiere
    • Masters

    Morocco had a Jewish population of more than 300,000 until the 1950s. From that time on, until just after the Six Day War in June 1967, a flood of emigrants left for countries such as France, Israel, and America. Filmmaker Simone Bitton’s family settled in France.

    In Ziyara (a term that refers to a form of pilgrimage to sacred places), Bitton returns to her homeland and searches for the traces the Jews have left behind. There is no shortage of these. Traveling by car—and taking the opportunity to include beautiful shots of the passing landscape—Bitton makes a tour of Jewish heritage in towns and villages. She discovers cemeteries, remnants of the Mellah (the Jewish quarter), synagogues, and schools—places often lovingly and reverently maintained by the local people. Bitton talks to them about the importance of heritage conservation, and their devotion, as well as about the relationship between Jews and Muslims. One of them muses: what would Morocco be like today if the Jews had stayed?

    Credits

    • 99 min
    • color
    • DCP
    • Spoken languages: Arabic, French, English
    • Subtitles in: English
    Director
    Simone Bitton
    Production
    Thierry Lenouvel for Cinesud Promotion, Lamia Chraibi for LA PROD, Olivier Dubois / Novak Prod
    Cinematography
    Jacques Bouquin
    Editing
    Dominique Pâris
    Screenplay
    Simone Bitton

    IDFA history

    Share this film

    Print this page

    IDFA history

    This website uses cookies.

    By using cookies we can measure how our site is used, how it can be further improved and to personalize the content of online advertisements.

    Read
     here everything about our cookie policy. If you choose to decline, we only place functional and analytical cookies