The Blue Caftan

Returning with her second feature - following its FIPRESCI prize-winning premiere at Cannes- writer and director Maryam Touzani (LIFF 2019’s Adam) asserts her expertise in capturing the intimacy and tenderness in human relationships. In one of Morocco’s oldest medinas, Mina runs a small shop selling traditional caftans created by her husband, master tailor Halim. Struggling to keep up with demand they hire a young male apprentice, but it’s not long before Mina notices how much her husband is moved by the presence of this young man.

I work a lot based on my feelings and inspiration; I don’t intellectualise things when I write. While I was scouting for a location for my previous film, Adam, I made a decisive encounter in the medina of Sale with a gentleman who ran a hair salon for women. He greatly inspired the character of Halim. I felt that there was, in his life, the presence of something unsaid, something smothered with respect to who he truly was deep down, and who he tried to be in order to face the world, within a highly conservative environment… I spent a lot of time with him, and he left a deep impression on me.

Director Maryam Touzani