Producer
Mica, 10, lives with his mother and sick father in a slum in the suburbs of Meknes, which is destined for destruction. A friend of his parents’, a handyman in a tennis club in Casablanca, takes him as his apprentice. Mica finds himself propelled into a whole new world where a new life awaits him. Mr. Slimani, a rich and cultured man and owner of the club, dreams of making his son Omar a tennis champion. To this end, he hires Sophia, a former French champion, as a private trainer. But Omar has very little talent and no passion for the sport. On the other hand, Sophia will eventually notice Mica and take him under her wing….
Producer
In the vast expanse of desert East of Atlas Mountains in Morocco, seasonal rain and snow once supported livestock, but now the drought seems to never end. Hardly a blade of grass can be seen, and families travel miles on foot to get water from a muddy hole in the ground. Yet the children willingly ride donkeys and bicycles or walk for miles across rocks to a "school of hope" built of clay. Following both the students and the teachers in the Oulad Boukais Tribe's community school for over three years, SCHOOL OF HOPE shows students Mohamed, Miloud, Fatima, and their classmates, responding with childish glee to the school's altruistic young teacher, Mohamed. Each child faces individual obstacles - supporting their aging parents; avoiding restrictions from relatives based on traditional gender roles - while their young teacher makes do in a house with no electricity or water.
Producer
Casablanca, July 1999. With longtime monarch Hassan II on his deathbed, there is an air of uncertainty weighing on Morocco - and especially on one marginalized young man, M'key. M'key finds a surrogate father figure in "pit bull" police commissioner Daoud and finds love with the enchanting Rita, but Rita is kept under close watch by her gangster brothers.
