Lesson 41: Going to Poland to Become a Moroccan Filmmaker

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

This chapter documents the experiences of several Moroccan filmmakers—Mostafa and Abdelkrim Derkaoui, Abdelkader Lagtaa, and Ahmed Lallem—who studied at the Łódź Film School in Poland during the 1960s and 1970s. It traces how they arrived in Poland, often through connections with the Polish consulate or left‑wing organizations, after being denied opportunities at home. The chapter covers their daily life in Łódź, their rigorous education (including courses in chemistry, aesthetics, and film history), and their politically charged extracurricular activities—protests, solidarity movements, and engagement with avant‑garde art. It details specific films they made while students, such as Lagtaa's Hope Is of a Different Color (about Roma communities) and Mostafa Derkaoui's The Adoption (about a Black orphan). The narrative also explores their political evolution: they were involved with the Moroccan Communist Party, protested the Vietnam War, and maintained ties to figures like Abdellatif Laâbi. The chapter ends with their decision to return to Morocco after a promise of protection from the director of the Moroccan Cinema Center, and with reflections on how their Polish training helped them navigate censorship back home.

Key Events

Mostafa Derkaoui learns about the Łódź Film School from the Polish consul general in his building and secures scholarships for himself and his brother Abdelkrim through the Moroccan Communist Party.
Abdelkader Lagtaa tries to study cinema in China but fails; he then stumbles upon the Polish embassy and obtains a scholarship using a letter from the UNFP.
The Derkaoui brothers depart from Casablanca in September 1965 with five suitcases, buying a copy of Don Quixote in Paris.
Students study Polish for a year before taking 17 different subjects in their first year, including chemistry, physics, aesthetics, and film analysis.
Lagtaa creates a student film, Shadow among Others (1969), about a left‑wing leader arrested and tortured, shot in Łódź.
Mostafa Derkaoui makes The Adoption, a short documentary about a three‑year‑old mixed‑race girl in an orphanage; the couple who played the adoptive parents later actually adopt her.
Students participate in protests against the Vietnam War, host symposia on Black Power and Palestine, and commemorate the March 1965 demonstrations in Morocco.
After the 1972 Boeing coup attempt in Morocco, the filmmakers fear returning home and consider exile in Cuba or Costa Rica.
Mohammed Ziani, director of the Moroccan Cinema Center, offers them protection and work; they return to Morocco in 1973.
Lagtaa is expelled from Poland in 1975 and given a one‑way ticket to Algiers; he refuses, is tricked by authorities, and is forcibly deported to Algeria during the Green March.

Character Development

Mostafa Derkaoui: Evolves from a philosophy‑student‑turned‑filmmaker into a committed artist who prioritizes movement, close‑ups, and a “rhizomatic” style. His experience at Łódź deepens his political engagement and his desire to make films that circulate like a rhizome—without conventional roots or stems.
Abdelkrim Derkaoui: Transitions from being his brother’s cinematographer to a cautious documentarian; he secretly filmed the trial of Abdellatif Laâbi but later lost the reels. His advice to “stay quiet if what you want to say isn’t as beautiful as silence” guides his brother.
Abdelkader Lagtaa: Begins as a poet and activist; develops an interest in conceptual art through Ewa Partum, participates in happenings (e.g., cinema‑screen acupuncture), and makes radical experimental films. His political consciousness grows increasingly critical of both the Moroccan regime and the lack of freedom in Eastern Bloc socialism.
Miguel Sobrado: A Costa Rican sociology student who becomes a close friend; he later facilitates the Derkaouis’ planned move to Costa Rica, though it never materializes.
Ahmed Lallem: Represents the disciplined student who details the rigorous structure of the Łódź curriculum and the school’s philosophy of treating students as budding artists.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Exile and Return: The chapter is built around the tension between leaving Morocco for an education and the impossibility of staying abroad. The filmmakers are forced to weigh their political ideals against the risk of prison at home.
Film as Political Tool: The school encourages students to maintain awareness of social reality. The filmmakers want to use cinema to “outsmart the authorities,” a skill they learn in Poland’s similar censorship context.
Improvisation and Resourcefulness: Students work with limited resources—shooting on 35mm, using Fotopan film, translating films without subtitles, smuggling equipment. The motif of making do recurs throughout.
Third World Solidarity: The chapter emphasizes connections among students from Vietnam, Cuba, Palestine, and Africa. They share dreams of independence and socialism, though political disagreements (e.g., over the invasion of Czechoslovakia) also surface.
The Rhizome: Mostafa Derkaoui uses the botanical metaphor to describe a cinema without conventional structure—an expressive will that does not repeat other national cinemas.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is crucial because it reveals the formative education of a generation of Moroccan filmmakers who studied abroad at the height of the Cold War and decolonization. It shows how their training at Łódź—a school that combined technical rigor with ideological freedom—enabled them to bring modernist, socially engaged cinema back to Morocco. The chapter also illuminates the personal costs of political activism: the fear of arrest, the loss of documents, and the forced exile of Lagtaa. By weaving together multiple testimonies, it demonstrates how personal relationships, chance encounters, and geopolitical shifts shaped the course of Moroccan film history.

3 Study Questions and Answers

1. How did the political climate in Poland both enable and restrict the filmmaking of Moroccan students?
Poland offered free education, access to world cinema, and a space for left‑wing activism. However, the state also imposed censorship; films were tolerated only if they had limited distribution. Students learned to work within these constraints, developing strategies to outsmart authorities—a skill they later applied in Morocco. The lack of freedom was obvious to them as artists, yet the Polish system also provided healthcare and education that Lagtaa acknowledged as positive.

2. What role did chance and personal connections play in the filmmakers’ journey to Poland?
Mostafa Derkaoui met the Polish consul general in his stairwell in Rabat. Lagtaa stumbled upon the Polish embassy while looking for the Czech embassy. These encounters, combined with support from left‑wing networks like the Moroccan Communist Party, bypassed formal application processes. The personal relationships later helped them secure film stock and jobs upon returning to Morocco.

3. Why did Abdelkader Lagtaa describe the Polish education as a “field of research” and what does that mean for his later work?
Lagtaa noted that the school did not impose a style or academism; students were treated as artists. This allowed him to experiment with radical ideas—such as films where the speaker is never seen—and to explore conceptual art. The emphasis on critical realism and social engagement shaped his later documentary work and his belief that cinema should question reality while remaining accessible to audiences.