The 7th Guelmim International Southern Theatre Festival kicked off on Wednesday evening, shining the limelight on children’s theater for the first time.
The Adouar Association for Free Theater is sponsoring the festival in collaboration with Morocco’s Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication to provide young emerging talent with an opportunity to benefit from a plethora of theatre experiences.
This year’s festival features theatrical performances and workshops, focusing on children’s theater, and a variety of other activities, such as puppet-making techniques and workshops on playwriting, scenography, and puppet theater.
Festival director Abdellatif Safi announced a symposium entitled “The Poetics of Theatre and Memory” and a masterclass designed for students from the Regional Center for Education and Training in Guelmim.
During the opening ceremony, the festival honored Moroccan actress Latifa Ahrar who is also director of the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts and Cultural Animation (ISADAC) in Rabat.
She has been a prominent figure on the Moroccan screen since her television debut in Bent Lafchouch (Spoiled Girl) in 1990. She later became a movie producer and the director of ISADAC, from which she graduated in 1995.
The award-winning actress is known for breaking social norms throughout her career, and received death threats at one time for wearing a bikini during one of her performances of a play entitled “Kafar Naoum.”
Despite the many hurdles she faced during her career, she built an extensive filmography from 2006 to 2017, with 10 films under her belt.