A controversial film portraying prostitution in Morocco that was shunned in the Arab world has finally been shown, amid tight security, at a film festival inTunisia. Fears of an attack by militants saw armed police and steel barriers around the cinema and each cinemagoer searched for weapons. The film, Much Loved, has provoked a storm of criticism from opponents, most of whom have yet to see it.
Director Nabil Ayouch’s portrayal of the lives of four upmarket prostitutes working for tourists and wealthy clients in Marrakech was made on a shoestring, using unknown actors and a mostly female crew.
Neither he nor the cast were ready for the firestorm it provoked after being premiered at the Cannes film festival in May. Within days, leaked excerpts had been posted online, to a furious backlash in Morocco.
Ayouch and the cast had death threats, and the Moroccan government formally banned the film, accusing the direc- tor of staining the country’s reputation. In June, the film was praised at the Toronto film festival for its unflinching appraisal of the lives of women on the margins of society, but at home a pressure group filed a lawsuit against the director. Actor Yousseff El-Idrissi, who plays a rich client in the film, told of being attacked by knife-wielding thugs.
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