Many SigEps have kept a careful eye on the political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa over the last year. Nadir Bouhmouch, San Diego State ’13, kept a camera on it.
Bouhmouch, a native Moroccan, returned to his home country for two months last summer, collecting film for a documentary called “My Makhzen & Me” that he plans to release on February 20, the one-year anniversary of the start of demonstrations in Morocco now known as the February 20th Movement.
The double major in film and international security had planned on shooting an apolitical film, simply because the country’s beautiful landscapes are known to be great for film. When his camera was confiscated by the government upon his arrival, the theme of his film quickly changed.
“That inspired me to shoot a film about one of the bureaucracies, the National Center of Cinema,” he said. “They regulate all the films that are produced in Morocco, they grant permission for you to shoot and anything against the government won’t be allowed.”
But the film evolved again when revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia helped jumpstart the February 20th Movement. Bouhmouch was discovering things he never knew about his country and he wanted to share them with the world.
“Because I was wealthy growing up, I never saw things that poor people saw every day,” he explained. “I was lucky. I decided I wasn’t going to shoot this movie about the National Center of Cinema, I was going to shoot about this movement.”
The project could have come to a halt if his footage, which the government knows nothing about, had been confiscated as he exited the country. Bouhmouch smuggled the tape out in a carry-on bag, while he did his best to evade police suspicions.
Bouhmouch hopes the project is just the start of a career making films to champion human rights. The movie is a bold statement with a tone of defiance. In one powerful scene, Bouhmouch reads his passport number, so that government workers will know exactly who he is.
“Many filmmakers or artists in Morocco censor themselves, but I don’t want to give out a moderate criticism. I want to go all out, prove what’s really wrong and do it in a defiant way. It’s the right time for change.”
Now back in California, Bouhmouch plans to return during spring break in March—regardless of the consequences of his video.
“I’m not scared anymore,” he said. “That’s what the movement is all about— being able to say that something needs to change.”
Check out a trailer of his movie above, and follow his website.
