Biography:
Mahassine El Hachadi is a young Moroccan filmmaker, based and working in Marrakech, Morocco.
In 2010, she received a bachelor’s degree in film from ÉSAV Marrakech. This degree, in addition to a Master’s in Directing she received from ÉSAV Toulouse in 2015, allowed her to write and direct several short fictions and documentaries.
Recently she has been awarded a bursary to attend the London Film School as a sponsored researcher. She has also been selected as a Fellow in the 2017 American Film Showcase Documentry Workshop in Los Angeles, USA.
She has won many awards and participated in numerous prestigious international film festivals, including Clermont Ferrand, Namur, the Festival vue d’Afrique, the National Festival of Tanger, the Human Rights Film Festival in Barcelona. Her film
Apnea was screened at the European Parliament in Brussels to represent women in the Moroccan film industry.
Project info:
In recent years many cases of public violence against homosexuals have occured in Morocco. And because of widespread use of social networks, these cases have sparked controversies in the Moroccan society.
In August 2015, during the Holy month of Ramadan, a young homosexual was beaten to death by a crowd of so-called believers in Fes. It happened just after the last prayer of the day. The attack was filmed by the audience and videos have been uploaded to YouTube.
This event shocked me and I refused to watch these videos feeling this is a violent act in itself. A few months later I went back to France to finish my Master’s. Accidentlly I came across the video and this time my curiosity was aroused.
Revange is a film about violence against the LGBT community in Moroccan society.
statement jury
Mahassine El Hachadi’s previous works are quiet yet expressive. Their excellent photography and subtle visual narratives, in which not everything needs to be spelled out, is what makes them so persuasive. Against this background, we can look forward to her first long documentary film, which dedicates itself to a topic that is taboo in Moroccan society: homosexuality – and the violence that accompanies it. The residence programme’s favourable conditions should enable this courageous project to undergo concentrated further development.
