New TV channel to promote Moroccan film production

06/06/2008

Morocco's newest TV channel "Aflam" airs both national and international movies around the clock to foster a film culture and encourage cinema in the Kingdom.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 06/06/08

[Sarah Touahri] Morocco's newest TV channel "Aflam" offers movies 24/7 to promote a film culture and encourage cinema in the Kingdom.

Morocco has a new television channel dedicated to the seventh art. "Aflam" was launched on May 31st by the SNRT (National Radio and Television Company) to promote Moroccan film production and help television viewers discover the diversity of cinema.

"Aflam is intended to better cater to the public’s expectations and tastes. It will respond to the very large demand among the Moroccan public for fiction," said SNRT Chief Executive Officer Faisal Laraichi, adding that the channel will air both new and old movies.

The new channel comes as a response to progress made by the Moroccan film industry in recent years in terms of production, Minister of Communications Khalid Naciri said.

"Aflam will contribute to film culture by educating the public about film and raising awareness through special cinema magazines and covering high-profile events and festivals dedicated to film," Naciri noted.

Broadcast free of charge, 24 hours a day, by TNT (Télévision Numérique Terrestre) receivers, Aflam will offer its viewers original versions of selected films subtitled in Arabic or dubbed in Arab, Amazigh or French.

The Moroccan production sector does not currently have the capacity to supply a channel of this kind with films on a daily basis, but the channel does constitute a tool which could encourage the development of national audiovisual and film production, said Ahmed Ghazali, the president of the Supreme Audiovisual Communication Authority (HACA).

"The development of audiovisual media and Moroccan film means that Moroccan production must play an increasingly important role in this channel’s programming, but the channel is not intended to broadcast just Moroccan-made films. It should also offer the Moroccan public a variety of foreign films," Ghazali told Magharebia.

Figures within the film industry welcomed the launch of the long-anticipated channel. Comedian Aziz Maouhoub was delighted, saying Afram will provide a major boost to his profession. Moroccan artists have been waiting a long time for an initiative of this kind to give film the public exposure it deserves, he said.

Arts critic Jamal Bouaazzaoui feels that the channel is a positive initiative which will bring Moroccans back to the cinema. "In 2006-2007 around fifty Moroccan films were produced, so it's an emerging industry. However, fewer than 5% of people go to the cinema and we're also seeing mass closures of cinemas in cities all over the country. The Aflam channel will contribute to fostering a film culture," he commented.