Moroccan Cinema Center Suspends Visa for Ismael El Iraki’s Film ‘Zanka Contact’

In a statement issued on Thursday, the CCM also announced its decision to suspend Filmmaker Ismael El Iraki’s professional card in accordance with the legislative and regulatory texts and to send a warning to production company Mon Fleuri Productions.

The production company is required to change the version of the film in 48 hours in order to make it identical to the original scenario for which the filmmaker had received public subsidy and permission to shoot, warning the company of profession practice authorization withdrawal.

The center said it had decided to review the film Zanka Contact in interaction with the national electronic press’s complaint over the use of music that goes against the constants of the Moroccan Nation in a film that had received a public subsidy in 2017.

In this respect, CCM noted that after its review that the film, indeed, includes a « betrayal of the text, dialogue and sound that were predefined in the scenario of the authorized work for suspicious reasons on the part of the producer and the filmmaker. »

Production company Mon Fleuri Production had received a financial grant of MAD 4.2 million in order to produce the said film and had also benefited from an advance on revenues during the third session of the Commission for the support of the production of cinematographic works under 2017 budget year, according to its minutes No. 05/2017, explained the same source.

In addition to its chairman, this commission includes representatives of administrations and personalities from the world of culture, art, cinema and audiovisual.

It carries out the missions entrusted to it under Joint Order 2490.12 setting the conditions, criteria and procedures for granting production aid, as amended and supplemented independently of the CCM since 2013.

The production company in question had obtained permission to shoot the film during the period from June 10 to July 21, 2019, in accordance with the procedures in force, notes the statement.

The CCM had disbursed the amount of subsidy allocated to the company according to the decision of the said Commission in three installments during 2019, while the fourth installment had been disbursed in September 2021 in accordance with the procedures determined in the aforementioned joint order.

Mon Fleuri Production had filed, on September 09, 2020, a copy of its film to the services of the Center to benefit from the fourth tranche, continued the same source, noting that the independent aid commission had examined this film on December 18, 2020 and had decided unanimously to approve its content.

The script submitted by the company before the Commission, either before production or to receive the fourth tranche of aid, does not include any reference to the use of music by Meriem Ment Hassan.

It rather only specifies that excerpts from Fadol’s Sidi Reddad (song), which do not involve any infringement of the constants of the Moroccan Nation, will be exploited, knowing that the Commission to support the production of film works includes among its members a representative of the Sahrawi Hassani culture, the CCM added.