Rice visiting Morocco
The U.S. Secretary of State , Condoleeza Rice is expected in Morocco later this week, part of a tour in north Africa, the U.S. State Department announced on Tuesday. The visit to the north African States is scheduled for September 4-7, and includes Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Rice will also make a stopover in Portugal
The U.S. Secretary of State is due to meet with the top officials of the visited countries to "discuss a wide range of bilateral and regional issues," the State Department added. In light of the unrest in tge Caucus region it will be interesting to hear if Ms Rice raises the thorny issue of Morocco's developing stronger ties with Russia.
King inaugurates professional training and elderly centres in Rabat
A centre for professional training and a social centre for the elderly, with a global budget of MAD 14 million ($1.8 million USD) were both inaugurated on Wednesday by King Mohammed VI.
The professional training centre is due to receive 300 male and female young beneficiaries, including the disabled, the non-schooled and job-seeking degree holders. Courses will be given in IT, business management, secretarial work, accountability, jewellery professions, and artistic gardening.
The centre's major goal is to help young people develop the most-sought after skills in the job market and to fight against social exclusion.
The building is part of a broader program to erect 10 similar centres across the country in partnership with the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity and the Office of Professional Training and the Promotion of Labour (OFPPT). Two of these centres are operational in Settat and Tangier.
A convention was established to identify the actions of the different players, and give the beneficiaries access to microcredits.
The social centre for the elderly will provide housing, food, and medical follow-up to the old people lacking family support and financial resources.
The centre aims to improve the life conditions of elderly people, and to develop good practice in terms of services offered to them. There will also be a “Regional Observatory for Aged People”.
The centre will provide 40 people with long-term accommodation and 10 people with one-week accommodation, while it will offer medico-social services to the non-resident elderly.
Lalla Bahia, spouse of late King Mohammed V and mother of princess Lalla Amina, passed away on Wednesday, the Ministry of the royal household, protocol and chancellery has announced.
The funeral of Lalla Bahia will take place on Thursday after the afternoon prayers (Al 'Asr) in the Moulay El Hassan mausoleum in Rabat and will be a private family ceremony.
King Mohammed V, grandfather of king Mohammed VI, was the sovereign of Morocco between 1927 and 1961.
Casablanca to host 1st international leather fair in October
Casablanca, will host the first international leather fair "MaroCuir" on October 9-11. The fair is expected to bring together some 130 national and international exhibitors who will display their latest products and their know-how in the area of subcontracting and co-contracting in leather industry, luggage, leather clothes, footwear industry, equipment and services.
The event will feature conferences, a fashion show as well as business meetings. According to organizers, the event is part of "the Emergence Plan for leather industry", which provides for developing leather professions and prompting the sector firms to upgrade their offer and adapt it to markets' expectations.
Egyptians ban Moroccan film
Alexandria's International Film Festival celebrates fifty years of Moroccan cinema this year, but after organisers suddenly pulled a movie scheduled for opening night last week, the renowned event has been marred by controversy.
According to a report on Maghrebia.com the last-minute cancellation of Moroccan movie "Whatever Lola Wants" at the opening night of the Alexandria International Film Festival has sparked a major reaction in by the film's director and others in the industry.
Since the film has already been screened at festivals from New York to Abu Dhabi, the organisers explained, it was not possible to use it at the opening of a major festival such as Alexandria. The festival committee also called the film "average".
"Pulling the film at the last minute was better than showing a film which has already been screened elsewhere and which would have brought the festival into disrepute and offended visitors," said festival president Iris Nazmi.
In addition, scenes set in Egypt featuring gay characters were likely to offend Egyptians, Alexandria festival officials said.
"The film includes a lot of scenes in which insults are directed towards Egypt and Egyptians and which depict them as panders and rascals," Mamdouh Al Laithy, head of the Egyptian Cinema Writers and Critics Association, said.
Set in New York and Cairo, "Whatever Lola Wants" depicts the clash of cultures that arises from a romance between an American girl and an Egyptian young man. They meet in New York and fall in love, but the relationship fails. The man then decides to go back to Egypt and the girl follows him.
It is the costliest production in the history of Moroccan cinema, coming in at a hefty 10 million euros.
Egyptian critic Tarek al-Shenaoui told an Egyptian magazine that the sudden decision to replace the movie "makes Alexandria Festival management lose its credibility and proves that the Festival management has never seen the film".
Ramadan Television programming - is it better this year?The View from Fez would like to hear from those who have started watching the Ramadan Television offerings. According to early comments, the reaction has been mixed. Writing to Maghrebia.com one viewer had this to say:
I keep thinking that my family (in America) will visit me in Morocco during Ramadan - and am terrified they will want to experience the whole culture; i.e the execrable after-fast TV programming. I've seen many of these performers (at different times) under talented directors, including Nabil Ayouch: Great things can be certainly done with them...why Ramadan programming is so singularly atrocious in it's production values and abysmal in it's content is a one big question mark. The most pandering, shoddy, poorly produced garbage is to be found on 2m: topping or next to the worst of stoned college radio, high-school drama and children's entertainment anywhere else in the world. The talent is definitely here in Morocco : Abdul Haqq Zarwali, Mohammed Khouy, Touria Alaoui... It's just as my dear friends say here in Fes, the production teams just cannot "make the finish."A preliminary breakdown of the schedule published Wednesday (August 27th) by L'Economiste lists the following programmes: "Mbarak ou Massoûd", a new sitcom inspired by daily life; interviews by Rachid and Hicham of stars including Khaled, Alpha Blondy, Amel Bent and Chimène Badi; the return of sitcom "Sir Hta Dji", traditional programme "Rommana wa Bartal" and crime drama "Al Qadia".
Also on offer are sketch comedy shows, musical performances in the Sufi, Malhoun and Aïssaoua styles, and a variety of Moroccan and international cinema. 2M will air an original mini-series, "Les hirondelles reviennent toujours" (The Sparrows Always Return), as well as Moroccan films each Tuesday night: "Wake Up Morocco" by Narjiss Nejjar, "Mémoire en detention" by Jilali Ferhati, "Moroccan Dream" from Jamal Belmejdoub, "Tilila" from Mohamed Mernich and "Les cœurs brûlés" by Ahmed El Maouni.
Despite promises made by officials in the past to cater to all tastes and promote Moroccan shows, the public still criticise the unreliability of presenters and the production mistakes that mar the locally-produced programmes.
Student Samira Boulfatah told Magharebia that television viewers are often "ashamed of Moroccan shows, which patronise Moroccans. The same faces come back every year with almost the same material, even repeating their mistakes."
Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news
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