MÈRES
(MOTHERS)
62 minutes, 2020
Director : Myriam BAKIR (Morocco)
Production : Sedna Films (France), Abel Aflam (Morocco)
in coproduction with TV 2M (Morocco), Lyon Capitale TV (France), Ostinato Production (France)
In Morocco, single mothers can be sent to prison under article 490 of the penal code. Society treats them as outcasts. To protect them, Mahjouba Edbouche created Oum El Banine (mother of children) which welcomes pregnant unmarried women.
The director takes us through their daily lives in this shelter and shows us their journey, from their arrival here to the birth of a child, And sometimes reconciliation with their family.
Myriam BAKIR was born in Paris of Moroccan parents. She studied at the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français in Paris, followed by a training course in photography in the United States. Then came professional television experience in the West Indies. She has directed three short films.
“Samia” with Neza Rahil was broadcast on Canal Plus. It has also won the Audience Award at the Meknes Rencontres Cinématographiques and Best Actress Award at the Casablanca National Festival.
In 2011, her first feature “Agadir-Bombay” with Noufissa Benchehida, won the Best Actress Award at the Tangier National Film Festival. In this film about prostitution in Morocco, the director sees the issue from the woman’s point of view. Today her work is used as evidence with associations defending the rights of women and children. With the support of the Moroccan Ministry of National Education, it is regularly shown in schools.
“Mères” is Myriam BAKIR’s first documentary, set in the real world, following Mahjouba Edbouche, a woman committed to single mothers in Morocco. The film tackles the problem head-on: these women’s fate and the law which condemns them.