Ahmed El Maanouni

Ahmed El Maanouni is a screenwriter, film director, cinematographer, actor and producer born in Casablanca. His films include one of the most emblematic title of Moroccan cinema Alyam Alyam (1978), first Moroccan film to be selected in Cannes Film Festival and winner of the Grand Prize at the Mannheim film festival. He caught international attention when his film Trances (Al Hal) was honored and presented by Martin Scorsese at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival to inaugurate the World Cinema Foundation. His film Burned Hearts (Les Coeurs Brûlés) (2007) won the Grand Prize at the National Film festival. His documentary films consistently interrogate colonial history and its impact on Moroccan memory. In 2007 he has been honored with the title of Officier of the Ordre des Arts et Lettres in France.