Sofia, Moroccan filmmaker Meryem Ben M'barek's first feature movie, will not be screened at the 34th edition of the Haifa International Film Festival, which will kick off on September the 22nd. Speaking to French-language magazine Telquel, the filmmaker stated that she asked the people behind the festival to remove her movie from the event's schedule, as soon as she knew about it. «International sellers send movies to festivals, and directors sometimes are not involved, it is not our choice», said Ben M'barek. Meanwhile, Narjiss Nejjar, whose movie Apatrid was also selected by the festival, said that she asked for the same thing, telling H24 that she is intending to travel to Ramallah (Palestine) to attend the Palestine Cinema Days. «I have been informed this morning that the film will be screened in Israel», she told the same source on September the 14th. Moroccan movie Razzia, on the other hand, is still on the Haifa International Film festival's schedule. Nabil Ayouch and Maryam Touzani said they did not know about the news and told H24 that they are not attending the event anyways. Four days ago, BDS Morocco launched a campaign, dubbed «cultural boycott is a duty : no to art-washing apartheid», urging artists and filmmakers to boycott similar festivals. Sion Assidon, a Moroccan-Jewish human rights activist and the main figure of BDS Maroc, invited the three Moroccan filmmakers to withdraw from the Haifa Film Festival and boycott the event.
