Where is "African Hollywood" located and why the world's largest film studios are heading for it?

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Even those who have never heard of "African Hollywood" will recognize these landscapes - simply because many classic films and modern blockbusters are filmed in Ouarzazate. "Gladiator", "Alexander", "The Last Temptation of Christ", films about Asterix and Obelix and Bondian, "Game of Thrones" - the list goes on for a long time. If a film is conceived on an "oriental" theme, if chases are supposed against the background of sand dunes, if the plot touches on antiquity, it is highly likely that this film will be filmed in Moroccan Ouarzazate.

How filmmakers fell in love with a small town on the caravan route

For the first time this city was opened for cinematography by Louis Lumière himself, when he shot The Moroccan Shepherd in 1897. And already in the XX century, film crews led by eminent filmmakers came to Ouarzazate every now and then. Orson Welles filmed here his Othello in 1951, and Alfred Hitchcock in 1956 filmed The Man Who Knew Too Much. The local landscapes can also be seen when watching the film "Lawrence of Arabia" directed by David Lean. If the plot according to the script took place in the east, then the likelihood that the shooting would take place in Moroccan Ouarzazate was very high - even if for this it was necessary to fly from the other end of the earth.

This city is located south of the Atlas Mountains, next to the Draa River. The word "Ouarzazate" comes from the Berber "no noise", and indeed, in itself, this place is quite quiet and even boring. Perhaps the famous Moroccan bazaar, which unfolds in this city too, brings revitalization to the quiet course of life in Ouarzazate. The region has also long been famous for carpets with geometric patterns in red on a black background.

Once the city served as a checkpoint on the way of trade caravans to Europe. With the arrival of the French colonialists, the functions of the town changed, now it became the location of the barracks of the Foreign Legion and a military airfield. And besides, Ouarzazate attracted more and more tourists and cinematographers.

Views of Ouarzazate and its streets, mountain slopes, sand dunes, numerous oases - all this served as excellent scenery for the action, which, according to the scenario, took place somewhere in the east or in the southern country. The Moroccan city welcomed foreign film crews with cordiality. Expressive, distinctive Ouarzazate, which retained the features of antiquity, was the very safe east that allowed to create without regard to heightened security measures or exorbitant budgets.

Film studio in Ouarzazate

In 1983, the Atlas film studio opened in Ouarzazate, which has become one of the largest in the world. An increasing number of residents were involved in filmmaking. There was always work on the manufacture of costumes and scenery, it was required to get and prepare the props, and most importantly, there was always an opportunity to take part in the extras.

Ouarzazate gradually turned into a city with a developed infrastructure and a comfortable organization of filming, a city where there are no bureaucratic delays, and the authorities facilitate the work of filmmakers and quickly issue the necessary permits. Pavilions and even entire neighborhoods were erected for filming."Medieval Jerusalem", created for the film "Kingdom of Heaven" directed by Ridley Scott, was not dismantled after filming. It, like many other sets in Ouarzazate, is still used today for filming television series and shows. And tourists have access to some pavilions of the exhibits of the local Dream Factory - this can be done by visiting the cinema museum.

"Walllywood", as the cinematic Ouarzazate is sometimes called, was also involved in the filming of one of the most popular television series - "Game of Thrones". Yunkai, the city that Daenerys liberates, is nothing more than an ancient fortress, or ksar, called Ait Ben Haddou. This is a city of adobe buildings, a unique monument of the Berber culture. It is located thirty kilometers from Ouarzazate. Erected about a thousand years ago, this ksar provided protection for the caravan route from Marrakesh to Timbuktu.

Films in which you can see the sights of Morocco

Ain Ben Haddou is now on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The walled city has become a filming location for numerous films, one of which is Gladiator, which won five Oscars, including Best Film. In addition, ksar can be seen in the films "Jesus of Nazareth", "The Pearl of the Nile", "The Last Temptation of Christ", "Kundun", "The Mummy", "Alexander" - the list is far from complete.

It is interesting that one of the films, which, it would seem, was destined to be filmed in Ouarzazate, had nothing to do with the city. This is Casablanca. The shooting was generally not conducted in Morocco, where at that moment - in 1942 - the Vichy regime dominated.

In the 2000s, Moroccan Hollywood experienced some lull, the economic crisis and the turbulent situation in the Arab world affected. After 2010, things went uphill, a lot was filmed in Ouarzazate. What awaits the capital of the African film industry next is an open question. Perhaps the real scenery will finally lose ground before the development of computer technology, or maybe they will still come to Morocco for location filming in order to "catch" the southern light and the atmosphere of the old East.

Filmed in Ouarzazate, the career of a French actor of Moroccan descent took off - Jamel Debbouza, who always keeps his hand in his pocket.