Special preview screening. Written and directed by Berkeley-based filmmaker John Slattery, this fiction/nonfiction hybrid presents two bright and humorous Moroccan college students, Hassan and Abdel, as they journey from Casablanca over the Atlas mountains to the Sahara desert. Hassan, in the midst of creating a media project, uses the trip to investigate how Morocco has been depicted in popular culture and used in Hollywood staples such as Casablanca (of course), The Jewel of the Nile and a host of less auspicious works. The conceit ingeniously allows us to see how the country has been figured in film, while also showing us the country itself and how Moroccans view their own nation through the lens of Hollywood.


Written by John Slattery. Photographed by Fara Akrami. With Abdel Alidrissi, Hassan Ouazzani, Amin Chadati, Fraida Bouazzaoui. 79 min. In French, Arabic and English with English subtitles. Zween Works.