Day School: Tradition and Modernity + The Blue Caftan (2022)

(Morocco-France-Belgium-Denmark 2022) is a film demonstrating wonderful technical skills and a careful presentation of important ideas about tradition and modernity.
Maryam Touzani’s film features three central characters. Halim and Mina are a married couple running a traditional business hand-producing caftans for weddings and other formal occasions.
Concerned that the skills for the job will be lost without new young blood, Halim takes on an apprentice, Youssef. Mina, however, is concerned that Youssef might represent a threat to the marriage and doubts he will stick with the work. Meanwhile Halim is discreetly homosexual (illegal in Morocco) and visits the baths in the medina.
Alongside this pressure, industrialised processes are replacing traditional hand-crafted production and Halim will face a third problem eventually - but this is not a doom-laden narrative. In many ways it is life-affirming and forward-looking. Modernity is a challenge but also an opportunity.
We will place this film in context by exploring different films from societies facing similar problems.

Tea and coffee will be available, for a small donation, and you are welcome to bring your own lunch.
Tickets are available online and on the door but due to limited places, please let us know if you are planning to buy your ticket on the door.

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