HENAN HARIT

Morocco- The Association Neama for Development is a Moroccan association based in Rabat that aims to spread the culture of human rights, defend the rights of women, children, and youth, and fight against child labor. The association launched the “Cinema Against Gender Violence” project in 2019 to combat violence against women. We spoke to Hafida Bensalah, one of the founders of the association, about the activities and projects of the association.

Stating that Moroccan cinema has limited cinematic works combating violence against women and spreading a culture of equality in Moroccan society, Hafida Bensalah said, “For this reason, our association launched the “Cinema Against Gender Violence” project in 2019. This project attracted people’s attention and played an important role in influencing the cinema audience. Today, the cinema is a tool to combat violence and create change in society. Screenwriters should focus on social issues, particularly gender-based violence. They should write scripts to prevent violence against women. In recent years, many cinematic works have been produced to raise public awareness on issues of gender-based violence.”

The films named “The Fate of a Woman (مصير امرأة)”, “Women… and Women (نساء… ونساء)”, “Happy (سعيدة)” and “Buried Alive (موؤودة)” are among the remarkable films on violence against women.