Edito

Along with the regular succession of the editions of the International Women’s Film Festival of Salé, the passion for discovering new cinematic territories continues and so do the questions about women in national as well as worldwide cinema. The festival represents a pertinent opportunity for female filmmakers from different backgrounds, horizons and geographies—Arabs, Africans and Westerners—to raise questions relative to the cinematic practice, exchange expertise, and discuss women’s affairs from within the cinematic achievements.

The sixteenth edition of the festival is held in a particular sociological moment that has a direct and profound impact not only on the involvement of women in the filmmaking enterprise, but also on her image in cinematic representations, especially on issues such as violence, harassment, family protection, equality in civic rights, and the protection of children and young people. Morocco has indeed signed international agreements related to the aforementioned issues, but some of them have not yet found their way to the expected fulfillment, and this was reflected in recent films by Moroccan female filmmakers, giving evidence of the dynamic nature of Moroccan cinema and its concern with the preoccupations of society.

In this edition, we are ambitious to buttress the constitutional achievement, which institutions of civil society are trying hard to get inspired from its spirit and implement some measures and laws that help overcome the public opinion’s widely-debated issues, which are deeply related to women’s rights to equality and parity. By highlighting these issues, we intend to keep pace with what worldwide cinema offers, especially that type of cinema that has some affinities with our national cinema and with which we can exchange views in order to develop the filmmaking practice in our country. It is for this reason that this sixteenth edition pays a special tribute to Mexican cinema which is rich in terms of artistic visions and approaches that are worthy of this tribute.

The festival allowed for the development of the theoretical debate on women’s cinema. With the succession of its editions, and through its meetings, discussions, and seminars, we have felt a certain change in the ways films are analyzed, the richness of film approaches and its theoretical foundations. This change was reinforced by the audiences’ interest in the various films which reflected their dynamic and interactive connection with the issues tackled by women’s cinema. Here we are being open to new cinematic contexts that consolidate what the previous editions have accumulated so far.

The program of this edition derives its opulence from the multiplicity of cultural and artistic bridging that it offers to its audience, opening new horizons which can deepen serious research into the different cinematic preoccupations of female filmmakers. Added to that, it can support their struggles in facing the challenges of the modern time which—in the absence of a cinematic vision—is hard to underestimate its political, social and technical challenges.