Hassan Benjelloun's 'Pour la cause' Previewed in Casablanca

Casablanca - Moroccan filmmaker Hassan Benjelloun has chosen to revisit, with a humanist touch, a facet of the Palestinian tragedy in his new opus "Pour la cause" (For the Cause), previewed on Monday at the Megarama of Casablanca. Through the saga of a young Palestinian guitarist, Benjelloun delivered a poignant vision of a people languishing under the yoke of occupation, while touching on the spontaneous solidarity of Moroccan women with the custodians of the "cause" and the outrageous situation of borders with Algeria. The preview of this movie, which will be on TV on January 1, left a good impression on a large audience of professionals and moviegoers, who were seduced by the performance of Palestinian Ramzi Maqdissi and Julie Dray in the main roles of Karim and Sirine, a French singer with Jewish origins, accompanied by a Moroccan cast including Aicha Mahmah, Abderrahim El Maniari, Sandya Tajeddine and Fadwa Taleb.

In a statement to MAP, Hassan Benjelloun stressed that the film "deals in a relaxed manner with the Palestinian question, far from serious speeches, while highlighting the humanist attitude of Moroccan citizens towards anything that is Palestinian."

Benjelloun, aged 69, produced and directed ten feature films and four TV movies. He has received several awards, notably for "The Red Moon", "The Forgotten of History" (2009), "Where are you going Moshe?" (2007), "The Dark Room" (2004), "Judgment of a Woman" and "The Lips of Silence" (2001).