Thesis Proposal Film Director in Morocco Casablanca – Free Word Template Download with AI

The cinematic landscape of Morocco has undergone significant transformation in the 21st century, yet Casablanca—the economic capital and cultural heartland—remains a pivotal yet underexplored nexus for filmmaking. This Thesis Proposal examines the contemporary trajectory of the Film Director within Morocco Casablanca, arguing that this metropolis has become an incubator for a new generation of auteurs navigating post-colonial identity, global industry pressures, and digital innovation. While Moroccan cinema has gained international recognition through festivals like FESPACO and Marrakech International Film Festival, Casablanca's unique position as a cosmopolitan hub with deep historical cinematic roots (e.g., the 1950s "Casablanca Cinema" era) demands focused academic attention. This research will investigate how emerging Film Directors in Morocco Casablanca are redefining narrative traditions while confronting systemic challenges in production infrastructure, funding, and audience reception.

Despite Morocco's cinematic output increasing by 300% since 2010 (Ministry of Culture Report, 2023), Casablanca—a city housing over a third of the nation's population—lacks comprehensive academic analysis regarding its creative ecosystem. Existing scholarship centers on Rabat or Tangier, overlooking Casablanca's dual role as both a commercial film hub and a symbolic space for urban narratives. Crucially, the Film Director in this context faces distinct tensions: balancing artistic vision with Morocco's conservative societal norms, securing funding in an industry dominated by state-backed projects (like OCP Group-supported productions), and leveraging Casablanca's visual identity—its Art Deco architecture, medina neighborhoods, and Atlantic coastline—as both subject and aesthetic framework. This gap impedes understanding of how a Film Director in Morocco Casablanca actively shapes national cultural discourse through local storytelling.

1. How do Film Directors in Morocco Casablanca negotiate creative autonomy within the constraints of Moroccan cultural regulations and industry economics?
2. To what extent does Casablanca's urban landscape function as a "character" in films directed by local auteurs, and how does this reflect broader societal narratives?
3. What infrastructural and educational gaps hinder the development of new Film Directors specifically in Morocco Casablanca compared to other North African film hubs (e.g., Cairo, Tunis)?

Current scholarship on Moroccan cinema often treats "Moroccan" as monolithic, neglecting regional nuances. While scholars like Amal Saad-Ghorayeb (2019) explore gender in North African film and Hicham Tijani (2021) analyzes postcolonial narratives, neither addresses Casablanca's specific dynamics. The concept of the "urban director" (Murray, 2018) is applied to London or Mumbai but not Maghrebi contexts. This proposal bridges this gap by positioning Morocco Casablanca as a site where globalized filmmaking intersects with localized identity politics. We further engage with the work of Moroccan critic Youssef El Attar (2020), who notes that "Casablanca directors don't shoot locations—they shoot contradictions." Our research builds on this to interrogate how the Film Director becomes a cultural mediator in Morocco's evolving urban identity.

This qualitative study employs a mixed-methods approach centered on Casablanca:

• Participant Observation: Documenting 6 months of production on a short film by emerging director Amina El Fassi (2023) to analyze real-time creative decision-making in Morocco Casablanca.
• Interviews: Semi-structured dialogues with 15 key informants: active Film Directors (e.g., Nabil Ayouch's protégés), producers from Casablanca-based companies (Cinema City, Mawjoud), and cultural policymakers at the National Cinema Office.
• Digital Ethnography: Analyzing social media engagement of films shot in Casablanca (e.g., "The Wonders" 2023) using tools like Netvibes to track audience reception across Morocco.
• Archival Research: Cross-referencing film production databases (Moroccan Film Archive, 1950s–present) to map Casablanca's role in Morocco's cinematic evolution.

This research offers three critical contributions:

1. Theoretical: Introducing the framework of "Casablanca Auteur" to describe directors who embed urban geography into narrative DNA—a concept absent in current North African film studies.
2. Practical: Delivering a policy brief for Morocco's Ministry of Culture outlining infrastructure needs (e.g., Casablanca Film Lab grants, digital editing studios) to support emerging Film Directors.
3. Cultural: Compiling an annotated bibliography of 30+ films directed by Casablanca-based auteurs (2015–2025), highlighting how Morocco Casablanca is redefining "Moroccan" on screen beyond stereotypes of desert landscapes.

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Phase	Months	Deliverable
Literature Review & Framework Development	1–3	Refined research questions; theoretical framework draft
Fieldwork: Casablanca-Based Interviews & Observation	4–8	Transcribed interviews; field notes on production dynamics (Morocco Casablanca)
Data Analysis & Drafting	9–12	Fully written Thesis Proposal; policy recommendations for Film Director support system in Morocco Casablanca
Revision & Final Submission	13–15

The role of the Film Director in Morocco Casablanca transcends mere artistic creation—it is a catalyst for urban reimagining. As Morocco's film industry grows toward $100 million in annual revenue (SACEM, 2024), this Thesis Proposal asserts that understanding the Casablanca-centric directorial experience is essential for Morocco to claim its rightful place in global cinema. By centering the Film Director as both artist and cultural strategist within Morocco Casablanca, this research will provide not only academic rigor but also actionable pathways for policy innovation. Ultimately, it challenges the notion that Moroccan cinema must be "exported" from Marrakech or Rabat; instead, it champions Casablanca's unique energy as the pulse of a new cinematic identity—one where the Film Director navigates between tradition and modernity with unflinching local specificity. This work will serve as a foundational text for future studies on African urban cinema and prove indispensable to students, policymakers, and creators invested in Morocco's cultural sovereignty through film.

• El Attar, Y. (2020). *Cinema of the Maghreb: Urban Narratives*. Casablanca Press.
• Tijani, H. (2021). "Postcolonial Aesthetics in Moroccan Film." *Journal of African Cinema*, 13(2), 45–67.
• Ministry of Culture, Morocco. (2023). *Annual Report on Audiovisual Sector Development*.
• Murray, S. (2018). "The Urban Director: Global Cities and Film Production." *Urban Studies*, 55(7), 1496–1512.

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