The closeted homosexuality of a married tailor who falls for his apprentice in the ancient quarter of Salé makes for daring content in The Blue Caftan, daring because same-sex sexual relationships are illegal in Morocco. Director/writer Touzani’s sensitive, humanist drama captured the critics’ award of the Cannes “Un Certain Regard” section as well as numerous audience awards during its festival travels. Halim (Saleh Bakri) and Mina (Lubna Azabal) run a traditional caftan shop in one of Morocco’s oldest medinas. In order to keep up with the orders from demanding customers, they hire Youssef. Although at first hostile towards the young man, Mina slowly realizes how much her husband is moved by his presence. Much of the sensuous film is dedicated to the disappearing craft of a maalem, the master tailor who makes everything on a garment by hand. The film was Morocco’s Oscar submission and earned a place on this year’s short list. –Alissa Simon
Director Biography
Maryam Touzani is widely regarded as one of the greatest Moroccan filmmakers, whose two features have both been that country’s official selection for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Feature. She is the director of Adam (2019) which screened at MSPIFF.
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