Trances Film

Synopsis

Moroccan band Nass El Ghiwane is the subject of this captivating music documentary. As storytellers connected to political theatre, the band became an international sensation, referred to by music critics as the ‘Rolling Stones of North Africa’. With political lyrics and sublime acoustic sound, they draw on the trance tradition. Both a concert movie and an audiovisual experiment, this film is a work of cinematic poetry. Trances was the first film to be restored by Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Fund.

Plus short

Aïta

Izza Génini | Morocco 1988 | 26m | Moroccan Arabic with English subtitles | 15

A short film by Izza Génini about a female travelling troubadour. Génini produced Trances and went on to become a prolific music documentary maker.

Both filmmakers will be in attendance for a Q&A after the screenings.

This screening is supported by the AHRC-funded Transnational Moroccan Cinema Research Project based at the University of Exeter, and is part of AiM’s focus on Africa’s lost classics.