Ahmed El Maanouni

Ahmed El Maanouni (born in 1944) is a Moroccan screenwriter, film director, cinematographer, actor and producer. His films include Alyam Alyam (1978), the first Moroccan film to be selected in Cannes Film Festival and winner of the Grand Prize at the Mannheim Film Festival. He caught international attention when his film Trances was honored and presented by Martin Scorsese at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival to inaugurate the World Cinema Foundation. His film Les Coeurs brûlés (2007) won the Grand Prize at the National Film Festival and was awarded many international prizes. His documentary films consistently interrogate colonial history and its impact on Moroccan memory. He directs study groups and educational programs in Morocco and throughout the world. In 2007, he was honored with the title of Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France.