Fatna, une femme nommée Rachid

Hélène Harder  took part in the Dramaturgy & Documentary workshop in 2019 of Groupe Ouest Développement, organised in partnership with Ty Films in Mellionnec (Central Brittany), for the development of her documentary film “Fatna, une femme nommée Rachid” (“Fatna, a woman named Rachid”).

Synopsis

At the National Archives of the Kingdom of Morocco, thousands of files on victims of political violence during the “years of lead” await cataloging. Among them is that of Fatna El Bouih, a 21-year-old high school student who was forcibly disappeared and tortured in the 1970s.

After years of rebuilding her life and remaining silent, Fatna, now 67, continues her fight and her “dream of change” in a different way. Despite the still difficult context, she works in prisons, campaigns for equality, and shares her story with Syrian women survivors of Saydnaya prison.

Following her through the bustling streets of Casablanca, we discover the intensity of her daily commitment, particularly through one of her bold projects: organizing a film festival at Oukacha prison, the country’s largest detention center for minors.

Images of Casablanca today are intertwined with those of the 1970s, merging past and present. Fatna’s inner voice tells her story, from her birth at the dawn of Morocco’s independence to her involvement in the revolutionary left in the 1970s.

“Fatna, a woman named Rachid” is a sensory and intimate journey, breaking down the boundaries between memory and the present, and painting a portrait of a pioneer of female activism, driven by a struggle that is as collective as it is personal.