Ouarzazate - Moroccan Film Studios

Last year I watched the shooting of scenes for Kingdom of Heaven on location in Essaouira.The film had a budget of $180 million and provided eight months of work for 2800 people, many of them across the Atlas mountains in the desert town of Ouarzazate. With a lot of money floating around everyone wants a piece of the action. However not everyone is happy. Residents of Ouarzazate who work as extras complain that their pay is far below that of foreign workers. Many claim to be working for as little as $15 a day when those with experience can take home between $25 and $50 dollars a day. It needs to be remembered that the average daily rate for most people in Ouarzazate is around $6 a day.

According to a recent Al Jazeera story, more than half of the 50,000 residents of Ouarzazate, rely for jobs on the film industry in one form or another - extras, stuntmen, or behind the camera as technicians, sound engineers or set decorators.

Forty-six year old Mbarka Jakanbaka has been in so many Hollywood films over the past 20 years that she cannot remember most of them. She has only seen a couple on the big screen, but does not even know the name of the last one she appeared in, dressed in the elaborate costume of an ancient Egyptian. "I was in the film for 15 days. It was about religion. My son knows the name," said Jakanbaka.

Morocco has long attracted Hollywood and European filmmakers for its varied landscapes, and Ouarzazate is a picture-perfect exotic location that also attracts the big budget films such as Rules of Engagement and last year's Kingdom of Heaven.

Ironically the town's only cinema shut down about five years ago because of lack of business.

Looking through the list below, it is interesting to see just how many "Christian" themed films are shot in Morocco.

Films shot in Ouarzazate

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), directed by Alfred Hitchcock; starring James Stewart and Doris Day
Lawrence of Arabia (1962), directed by David Lean; starring Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif

Jesus of Nazareth (1977), directed by Franco Zeffirelli; starring Robert Powell, Anne Bancroft

Jewel of the Nile (1985), directed by Lewis Teague; starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner

The Living Daylights (1987), a James Bond film directed by John Glen; starring Timothy Dalton, Maryam d'Abo

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Martin Scorsese; starring Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel

The Sheltering Sky (1990), Bernardo Bertolucci; starring Debra Winger, John Malkovich

Kundun (1997), Martin Scorsese; starring Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong, Gyurme Tethong

The Mummy (1999), Stephen Sommers; starring Brendan Fraser

Gladiator (2000), Ridley Scott; starring Russell Crowe

Alexander (2004), Oliver Stone; starring Colin Farrell, Angeline Jolie, Anthony Hopkins
Astérix et Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre (2002), Alain Chabat; starring Gerard Depardieu and Jamel Debbouze

Hidalgo (2004), Joe Johnston; starring Omar Sharif and Viggo Mortensen

Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Ridley Scott; starring Martin Hancock and Michael Sheen

Babel (to be released 2006), Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu; starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett

The Ten Commandments (to be released in the spring of 2006), Robert Dornhelm; starring Omar Sharif, Dougray Scott, Mia Maestro

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