Prior to making films, Zinoun had for a long time been involved in dancing. He had tried to establish a national dance institute, but Hassan II opposed it
By
LINDA CHRISTANTY
·4 minutes read
Faux Pas, a 12-minute film, did not reveal the faces of the actors, except for their legs. In one of the rooms at the Bibliothèque Nationale du Royaume du Maroc, Rabat, I stared at the screen in awe.
One night, in this film, a pair of men’s legs staggered until they arrived at the door of their apartment. After the door opened, the feet stepped onto the sofa, and the leg’s owner slowly took off his shoes. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. The phone rang and the tap was dripping. Bare feet tiptoed to the pile of books, then moved to the fireplace. Books were burned. In the same apartment building, a pair of women's legs were dragged between the legs of men, the secret police.
Through Faux Pas, Lahcen Zinoun, the director, told the story of those accused of fighting against the state during the reign of King Hassan II in Morocco.
Prior to making films, Zinoun had for a long time been involved in dancing. He had tried to establish a national dance institute, but Hassan II opposed it. Dancing men were considered in defiance of the king. Eventually Zinoun turned to painting. Years later he returned to the world of dance and made films. In an interview, he said that cinematography was a means to combine the visuals of his paintings with the physical movements of dance.
Evelyne was kidnapped on 26 Sept. 1972 in Rabat and tortured for nine days.
Zinoun dedicated Faux Pass to Evelyne Serfaty, the sister of Abraham Serfaty, a communist activist who fought against the French invaders. From 1952 to 1956, the brother and two sisters spent time in French prisons and in the 1970s, Abraham was jailed in a Moroccan prison for opposing the monarchy. Evelyne was kidnapped on 26 Sept. 1972 in Rabat and tortured for nine days.
In her book, Screening Morocco: Contemporary Film in a Changing Society, Valérie K Orlando, a professor of French and Francophone Literature at the University of Maryland, United States, praises Zinoun's camera dexterity in uncovering the human rights abuses of Morocco's past, human rights abuses which occur every day around the world.
As Faux Pas was made in 2003, the director also related the film to global politics. The water drops in the film can be considered as an allusion to torture techniques such as waterboarding, and the detention of thousands of people in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo without trial or access to justice proceedings in the midst of growing terrorism.
In 1999, a year after the reform movement in Indonesia, Hasan II's reign ended when the king died. However, these events do not mean the next era has been free from dark clouds. Indonesia? I'm afraid of being detained.
Teigen, a feminist and theater director in Norway, according to Faiza, wrote the script after researching and interviewing Uruguayan refugees or asylum seekers in Norway.
Faiza Mardzoeki, like Zinoun, believes dark history still looms over the future. She translated Lene Therese Teigen's play, Time Without Books, because she saw its relevance to Indonesia at a time when nearly half a million people became victims of the "1965 incident", which some consider the foundations for the rise of the New Order regime. Teigen, a feminist and theater director in Norway, according to Faiza, wrote the script after researching and interviewing Uruguayan refugees or asylum seekers in Norway.
She recounted the memories of the survivors of the dictatorship in Uruguay when a fifth of the country's population was arrested, tortured and disappeared between 1973 and 1985.
When the theater was closed during the pandemic last year, Faiza experimented with the concept of film-theater. She produced Teigen ‘s play, working with five female directors from five cities, Ramdiana from Aceh, Ruth Marini from Jakarta, Heliana Sinaga from Bandung, Agnes Christina from Yogyakarta and Shinta Febriany from Makassar. Performances can be watched free of charge by accessing the links on the website.
The interpretation of the script featured masked figures on stage, burned notes, oppressive interrogations and images of torture between the desire and hope for happiness. However, Ruth Marini changed the theater stage by showing scenes and images produced by film cameras.
The bloody back of a man lying on the cell floor looked real even though the interrogator played by the girl was only symbolic; it was transformed into a traumatic memory that has been hard to forget.
The camera motion captured the detailed expressions and emotional changes on the performers' faces with close ups and extreme close ups, replacing the blocking of on stage. The bloody back of a man lying on the cell floor looked real even though the interrogator played by the girl was only symbolic; it was transformed into a traumatic memory that has been hard to forget.
Watching Time Without Books made us want the dark ages in humanity to end, everywhere. The faceless figure in Faux Pas used his final freedom to choose how to die: not in the hands of the ruler. A pair of legs climbed onto a chair, then hung, bobbing. It was suicide. The sound of the dripping tap continued.
LINDA CHRISTANTY, is a writer and cultural activist.
(This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi).