For one week, Salé is putting women behind and in front of the camera at the centre of the conversation.
The 19th International Women’s Film Festival of Salé is currently underway, running from September 28 until October 3.
And the festival is not simply screening movies made by women.
It is looking at women’s place across cinema, culture and storytelling, bringing together filmmakers, actors and audiences from Morocco and abroad.
This year’s programme includes feature films, documentaries, discussions, masterclasses and tributes, turning Salé into a meeting point for people working across different parts of the film industry.
Several Moroccan names are being celebrated too.
The festival is paying tribute to figures including Amal Ayouch, Ibtissam Laaroussi and filmmaker Mohamed Abderrahman Tazi, alongside international guests.
The programme also places special attention on the legacy of Fatima Mernissi, the Moroccan sociologist and writer whose work explored women, power and society.
That makes this edition particularly interesting.
The conversation is not limited to who appears onscreen. It extends to who gets to tell stories, whose experiences become films and how cinema can change the way women are represented.
For younger Moroccan filmmakers, that matters.
Film festivals can sometimes feel like closed industry spaces where everyone already knows everyone.
But they can also be places to discover films you would never see in a normal cinema, hear directly from filmmakers and understand how stories actually make it from an idea to the screen.
Until October 3, Salé is giving those stories the spotlight.
