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Our Favourite Festivals & Events
Moussems (festivals) honouring marabouts (local saints) are held all over the country throughout the year and some draw big crowds. Morocco also has a burgeoning selection of good international cultural events.
Almond Blossom Festival (Tafraoute and around) February/March
Festival du Desert (Er-Rachidia) May
Moussem of Ben Aïssa (Meknès) May/June
Gnaoua and World Music Festival (Essaouira) June
Festival of World Sacred Music (Fès) June/July
Festival International de Rabat (Rabat) June/July
Festival of Folklore (Marrakesh) July
Festival of Casablanca (Casablanca) July
International Cultural Festival (Asilah) July/August
Marriage Festival (Imilchil) September
Must-see Moroccan Movies
Cinematic Morocco comes in many guises from hard-hitting social commentaries, usually the work of contemporary Moroccan film-makers, to Hollywood fantasy with its illusory idea of exotic North Africa.
Morocco (1930) Director: Josef von Sternberg
Casablanca (1942) Director: Michael Curtiz
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) Director: Alfred Hitchcock
A Thousand and One Hands (1972) Director: Souheil Ben Barka
El Chergui (1974) Director: Moumem Smihi
Alyam Alyam (1978) Director: Ahmed el Maanouni
Le Coiffeur du Quartier des Pauvres (1982) Director: Mohamed Reggab
Badis (1988) Director: Mohamed Aberrahman Tazi
Hideous Kinky (1998) Director: Gilles MacKinnon
The Wind Horse (2001) Director: Daoud Aoulad-Syad
Top Reads
If you’re interested in further reading on Morocco, try some of the books we’ve detailed here. To track down hard-to-find books try the following online bookstores: www.amazon.com, www.stanfords.co.uk, www.thetravelbookshop.co.uk .
Morocco That Was (1921) Walter Harris
In Morocco (1927) Edith Wharton
The Sheltering Sky (1949) Paul Bowles
The Voices of Marrakesh (1967) Elias Canetti
The Conquest of Morocco (1986) Douglas Porch
The Sand Child (1987) Tahar Ben Jelloun
Tales of a Harem Girlhood (1995) Fatima Mernissi
For Bread Alone (2000) Mohamed Choukri
A Year in Marrakesh (2002) Peter Mayne
Morocco: The Traveller’s Companion (2005) Margaret & Robert Bidwell
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