The city of Dakhla now has its own film commission like Ouarzazate or Marrakech.
The “Dakhla Film Commission” which was created this week aims to help promote the city as a new film destination for foreign and national productions.
“Managed by film professionals, this commission will play a particularly positive role on the socio-economic level of the city, just as it will promote the creation of multiple job opportunities, in addition to contributing to the promotion of cultural and tourist image of the Kingdom, in particular the Dakhla destination”says a press release from the “Dakhla Film Commission”.
“The Dakhla Film Commission also aspires to consolidate the position of the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region as an international pole of the film industry in Africa”notes the press release.
It also involves developing the film infrastructure both locally and nationally, ensuring that producers can have access to appropriate facilities and services at competitive prices and creating an appropriate regulatory environment that promotes the development of the sector. .
It is also about promoting Moroccan cinema in international events, creating an interconnection between Moroccan professionals and foreign production companies, appointing international cinema ambassadors and inviting more international directors and producers to discover Dakhla.
In addition, the Dakhla Film Commission aims to foster strategic initiatives in the field of film training.
In this wake, it helps to set up programs to raise awareness of the usefulness of cinema, the promotion of film careers, the acquisition and development of talent and the encouragement of cooperation-production.
Chaired by film producer and distributor Asma Graimiche, this commission notably brings together producer Karim Dabbagh (vice-president) and director Jérôme Cohen Olivar (member).
Among the ambassador members is the famous Moroccan-American director, Sana Hamri, the international film producer Marcus Loges, the American producer Patrick Newall, the German director and producer, Michael Dreher and the German director and producer, Frider Schleich, specifies the same source.
“The Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region is a real national treasure that harbors enormous natural resources and consists of vast expanses of desert land, but also a hundred kilometers of deserted beaches that stretch from north to south, all along the Atlantic Ocean”underlined Asma Graimiche, president of the commission, quoted by the press release.
In parallel with the announcement of the creation of the “Dakhla Film Commission”, the filming of the scenes for the second season of the American futuristic fantasy series “The wheel of time”, which is inspired by the novel by James Oliver Rigney and which stars Rosamund Pike, has just been launched in Dakhla.
Renowned actors such as Madeleine Madden, Danielle Henney, Michael McCleahton, Alvaro Morte, Sophie Oconedo, Kate Fleetwood, Claire Perkins, Peter Franzen are part of the cast of this new season, the statement said.
The production of this work is carried out by “Amazon Prime production” and “Sony Pictures Entertainment”, under the executive production in Morocco by the producer Karim Dabbagh. The production team is headed by the Moroccan-American, Sana Hamri.
.