{"id":4207,"date":"2026-03-29T14:06:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T14:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/?p=4207"},"modified":"2026-03-29T14:30:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T14:30:47","slug":"when-decision-makers-critique-themselves-who-is-accountable-for-moroccan-cinemas-absence-from-festival-de-cannes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/when-decision-makers-critique-themselves-who-is-accountable-for-moroccan-cinemas-absence-from-festival-de-cannes\/","title":{"rendered":"Who asks the question\u2026 and who makes the answer? A look at a professional discourse on Moroccan cinema\u2019s place"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the official selections for the Festival de Cannes<\/span><\/span> approach, we observed a published article by an author presenting himself in his professional capacity within Morocco\u2019s film production sector, posing a seemingly simple question: will Moroccan cinema be present at this global event, or will it remain on the sidelines?<\/p>\n

The question itself is legitimate. Acknowledging the gap between ambition and international positioning is a necessary step for any serious debate. Emphasizing that access to major festivals is not accidental, but results from a long process of writing, directing, producing, and distributing, is a fundamentally sound diagnosis.<\/p>\n

However, a careful reading reveals that the text does more than pose a question: it also redraws the criteria for the answer. The author places an almost singular criterion of success: entry into the official competition. Implicitly, this diminishes the value of other paths\u2014film markets, parallel sections, co-productions\u2014as if these presences were \u201cwithout decisive impact.\u201d This is not merely a technical remark, but a reordering of legitimacy within the cinematic field<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The deeper issue lies in the angle adopted<\/strong>. The text focuses on the final result\u2014presence or absence\u2014without sufficiently addressing the \u201cdecision chain\u201d that produces this result. It speaks of \u201cus\u201d generally, but does not specify: who is this \u201cus\u201d? Where does responsibility begin and end?<\/p>\n

In the film industry, results are not created at the screening moment, but in prior stages: project selection, artistic direction, production design, and building international promotion paths. At the core of this chain, there is a key professional role that determines the ceiling and horizon of a project from the start. Here, the critical question arises: can we limit ourselves to diagnosing the result without examining the roles that produce it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The text goes far in critiquing \u201cformal presence,\u201d mentioning the logic of \u201csupport instead of market\u201d and \u201cachievement instead of positioning.\u201d However, it stops short of a full analysis: it does not explain how projects are built, selected, or directed toward an international horizon. Thus, the critique remains selective in its perspective<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The timing of publication is also significant. Published before the announcement of selections, the text influences professional sentiment. In case of absence, the diagnosis becomes a pre-justification; in case of presence, it appears as an exception confirming the rule. The text therefore assumes a dual function: framing the debate in advance<\/strong>, while maintaining distance from the centers of decision.<\/p>\n

This does not negate the importance of the questions raised but underscores the need to broaden them. Instead of limiting the question to \u201cWhy are we not chosen?\u201d, a complementary question must be asked: How do we produce from the start what can be chosen? Who decides this?<\/strong> International positioning is built at the beginning, in what can be called the \u201cprofessional kitchen\u201d where the nature and limits of a project are determined.<\/p>\n

Moroccan cinema does not lack talent, but it suffers from blurred responsibility allocation<\/strong> when it comes to results. Effective critique must cover all stages of the chain without exception, not illuminate only a part.<\/p>\n

In the end, this is not about condemning or defending the discourse, but about redirecting the debate to its real depth<\/strong>: who asks the question\u2026 and who holds the keys to the answer?<\/p>\n

?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the official selections for the Festival de Cannes approach, we observed a published article by an author presenting himself in his professional capacity within Morocco\u2019s film production sector, posing a seemingly simple question: will Moroccan cinema be present at this global event, or will it remain on the sidelines? The question itself is legitimate. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cinema-diplomacy-cultural-diplomacy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4207"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4210,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4207\/revisions\/4210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}