REBEL LAND

Spanish, Morocco | 2025 | 24 min | col. bw. | Spanish, Amazigh

Lying somewhere between a visual essay and a piece of political poetry, this film takes inspiration from the historical phrase “Bled el Siba”, which was used during the Spanish protectorate in Morocco to refer to lands that defied the authority of the sultan and the colonisers. Through the voices and songs of Amazigh women from the Rif region, the film intertwines the memory of colonial resistance with the present-day dynamics of neo-liberal power, while the editing follows the rhythm of irzan – women’s poetic quatrains evoking wounds and healing. Static images of landscapes and ruins alternate with a voice-over narrator reflecting on the power of storytelling and listening. Ro Caminal’s is an act of restitution: a cathartic cinema that transforms poetry into a counternarrative, which can give the landscape back its pluralistic and rebellious voice. (T.P.)