Morocco’s Film Industry Sees 77% Drop in Foreign Productions Amid Pandemic

Only 8 foreign feature films were shot in 2020 in Morocco with a budget of nearly 60 MDH, compared to more than 265 MDH the previous year, a decrease of 77.49%, revealed the annual report of the Moroccan Cinematographic Center (CCM) adding that 9 foreign television series were also shot in the kingdom for an investment exceeding 130 MDH. The same source states that 703 filming permits were granted to Moroccan productions and 222 to foreign productions filmed in Morocco.

The film report shows the production of 13 feature films, 83 short films, 36 television series, 28 TV movies, 86 commercials and 16 documentary-fictions. It was also noted a drop in the statistics relating to admissions in cinemas, from 1,883,425 in 2019 to 497,141 admissions in 2020. This gap consequently led to a drop in revenue from 92,977,422 DH to 23,630,181 DH.

In terms of international participation, Moroccan cinema recorded 29 participations in the official competition festival, 12 festivals with out-of-competition films, and 7 Moroccan films were awarded abroad.

Regarding film events, some were organized thanks to the Fund for the Organization of Film Festivals. Of the 31 dark rooms, 26 were supported in 2020 to the tune of 9,496,407.88 DH, the CCM reports, author of the streaming broadcast, between March 31 and July 12, 2020, of 64 feature films and documentaries, 33 short films.

Morocco comes first in terms of views of films broadcast on streaming with 894,287 views, followed by France (102,982), Spain (65,231) and Canada (20,122). In addition, 10 feature films, 3 documentaries, 4 short films and 7 archives were restored in the CCM laboratory, while 16 works dating from 1958 to 2008 were digitized in 4K.