The bar "Chez Pierre"is a meeting-place for the inhabitants of Bejjad, a small town in Morocco. Pierre's death coincides with the departure of the French and the clandestine exodus of Jews to Israel and Europe: the bar is about to be closed...-
In the early 1960s, after Morocco's independence from France, many of the country's Jews clandestinely left for Israel. In Finemachiyamoshe (Where Are You Going Moshe?), the Jews of the little town of Bejjad plot their departure with the help of their rabbi. One thing, however, worries them: Will Berbeq'ha, the idiot who thinks he's a general, leave too? Once he learns of the Jews' plans, Mustapha, the bar-owner, panics; if all the non-Muslims leave, the Law will make him close the bar. How will he avoid such a disaster? He'll have to hold back one Jew! That's Hassan's idea, anyway. He's Mustapha's son and lover of Rachel, Shlomo's daughter. What will become of the Bejjad bar?

A film by Hassan BENJELLOUN

avec Simon Elbaz, Abdelkader Lotfi, Hassan Essakalli, Mohamed Tsouli et Rim Shmaou (Rim Chemanou)

Morocco / Canada, 2007, Fiction, 1h30, Color

Original Title (Arabic): FINEMACHIYA MOCHÉ
French Title: OÙ VAS-TU MOSHÉ?
English Title: WHERE ARE YOU GOING MOSHÉ?

Countries: CANADA/MOROCCO
Year: 2007
Genre: DRAMA
Duration: 90 MINUTES
Format: HD
Support: 35mm
Color : Colour
Sound: Dolby SRD
Language: ARABIC, WITH ENGLISH AND FRENCH SUBTITLES
Aspect Ratio / Image: Panoramique 16:9 (2.39)
Format DVD: DVD NTSC
Sound / Son: 5.1 Surround, 2.0 Stereo

DIRECTOR'S NOTES
WHERE ARE YOU GOING MOSHÉ? is an intimate tale that brings together Moslems, Christians and Jews-men and women who become players in the shifts and surprises that beset the small Moroccan town of Bejjad in the 1960s.
These original characters are a departure from the usual figures found in the region's historical archives-they are simple citizens, happy to coexist together in the same town.
I wanted to return to a moment in Moroccan history that is all but forgotten today: the clandestine departure of the Jewish community to Israel, and the destabilization that ensued in the country. The emigrants would discover an Israel whose welcome was not always what they were promised: the Maghrebi Jews would live there in a hermetic world, clinging to their memories-colourful, fragrant, emotional-of Morocco.
By following the story of Shlomo, I am choosing an enigmatic and comical point of view- that of a Moroccan Jew who resists emigration, anguished by the thought of leaving the Morocco he considers his home. This perspective allows me to avoid the trap of documentary and make a truly fictional film with a story unique to its genre.
With the departure of the entire Jewish community, Shlomo becomes the veritable last Jew in town. Shlomo is a complex and shrewd character torn by his own doubts as well as by the two clans of the Moslem community-those who want to see the bar closed down (and for that there must be no Jews left in town) and those who want to keep it open (and for that they must protect their last non-Moslem).
A gallery of personalities surround the principal role, Shlomo. Some are the issue of a social reality and anchor the film in its period: young Hassan emancipates himself from his paternal yoke; Mustapha is a man looking for financial success; Abdelwahad and Abdessamad are two men with political ambitions; the rabbi is the head of the community. Others, more like caricatures (Berbeq'ha, the madman; Rahim, the snitch; Sem, the transvestite; Hadj Bouchaïb, the failed social climber) allow for a lightness that is rarely found in this type of story.
Women are not absent from this tale. Three of them, each bearing strong personalities, travel throughout the film and lend the narrative an important dynamism and dimension: Rachel is a young Jewish woman moved by the Zionist dream, who becomes confronted with a far more complex reality, revealed to us through her letters; Friha, a Jewish woman, follows the exodus and adapts herself to it; and, Zaïna, an emancipated Moslem woman, is a fixture of the bar.
And, of course, the bar itself. I wanted also to film a place-a place of meeting, of cohabitation between communities, and always at the fringes of legality: where else, but a bar, a virtual metaphor for the society of the time. The bar provides the dramatic flashpoint in the film between those who want it closed down and others who would like to see it remain open.
- Hassan Benjelloun

"A magnificent film"
- Jacques Mandelbaum, Le Monde

PRODUCERS
Hassan Benjelloun
Anne-Marie Gélinas
Andrew Noble

DIRECTOR: Hassan Benjelloun
SCRIPT: Hassan Benjelloun
DIALOG: Abdellah Chakiri
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Kamal Derkaoui
EDITOR: Aube Foglia
MUSIC: Ned Bouhalassa
PRODUCTION SOUND: Fawzi Thabet
SOUND DESIGNERS: Philippe Attié, Tristan Bernier, Michel Lambert
SOUND MIXER: Luc Boudrias
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Rachida Saadi

CAST
Simon Elbaz (Shlomo)
Abdelkader Lotfi (Mustapha)
Hassan Essakalli
Mohamed Tsouli
Rim Shmaou (Rachel)

Production:
Bentaqerla Productions (Morocco)
Productions Jeux d'Ombres (Canada)

Distribution (Canada) : Filmoption International (Westmount, Québec, Canada)
www.filmoptioninternational.com/where-are-you-going-moshe

Available on Digital HD ➤ https://vimeo.com/ondemand/whereareyougoingmoshe

Also available in French ➤
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/ouvastumoshe

Release (Canada): 27 March 2009
Release (France) : 09 June 2010

BUY THE DVD
www.filmoptioninternational.com/shop/whereareyougoingmoshe

FESTIVALS
* Selection /// 2008 Rabat International Author's Film Festival (Morocco) | 21-30 / 06 /2008
* Selection /// Khouribga African Film Festival - FCAK 2008 (Morocco) | 19-26 / 07 /2008
* Selection /// 2009 Cinémas d'Afrique Festival in Angers (France) | 05-10 / 05 /2009
* Selection /// 2009 Semaine du Cinéma Méditérranéen (Lunel, France) | 18-31 / 03 /2009
* Selection /// 2009 Agadir Cinéma & Migrations Festival 2009 (Morocco) | 21-24 / 01 /2009
* Selection /// Le Maghreb des films 2009 (France) | 07/10/2009 - 12/11/2009
* Selection /// 2010 Geneva International Oriental Film Festival - FIFOG 2012 (Switzerland) | 19-28 / 03 /2010
* Selection /// 10th Fenêtres sur le cinéma du Sud (Lyon, France) | 04-09 / 05 / 2010. Screening on Saturday 8 May, at 18h00. with Mohammed Bakrim, Communication Officer at CCM (Centre Cinématographique Marocain) in attendance
* Selection /// Le Maghreb des Films 2010 (France) | 05-16 / 11 /2010
* Selection /// 4th Ciné Regards Africains (2010, France) | 13-27 / 11/ 2010
* Selection /// 2010 Arts des Suds Festival (ex Continent Afrique - Mont de Marsan) (France) | 10-18 / 11 /2010
* Selection /// 2011 "Printemps et cinéma du Maghreb" Festival (France) | 15-19 / 06 / 2011
* Selection /// 2012 Geneva International Oriental Film Festival - FIFOG 2012 (Switzerland) | 28/04 - 06/05/2012