Casablanca Beats

Palme d'Or nominated film about a former rapper who takes a teaching job at a cultural centre in a working-class neighbourhood in Casablanca.

Former rapper Anas takes a teaching job at a cultural centre in a working-class neighbourhood in Casablanca. Struggling with religious obligations, repressive families and misogyny, his students gradually learn to express their feelings and frustrations through hip-hop.

At times tipping into fantasy, with unexpected immersive musical scenes, such as a West-Side-Story-style street dance-off, the film is also heavily based on reality. In addition to the cast of non-professionals playing fictionalised versions of themselves and a liberally-improvised script, the arts centre itself is based on – and filmed in - one that director Nabil Ayouch co-founded in the deprived suburb of Sidi Moumen. Casablanca Beats was selected as Morocco’s entry for the 2022 Academy Awards.