To describe the events spreading out in Aurore, in Royaume and in Bleu, suitable tools still have to be found ; up until now, nothing much has been said or done about a cinema that quite specifically deals with picture as a sensation. Then one can always attempt, as plainly as possible, to draw a few lines, trying to single out a few dimensions, a few questions, a few perspectives that run through these films and relate them to the history of pictures and cinema.

Bleu

In Jajouka, a village nestled in Morocco’s Rif mountains, magic rites accompanied by a peculiar music performed by “the Master Musicians of Jajouka” (a brotherhood of musicians) are commonplace. Acclaimed musicians Eric and Marc Hurtado, founders of the group Etant Donnés, explore these rituals and legends in fascinating complicity with the master musicians and other villagers of Jajouka. Weaving documentary and fiction, the Hurtados eschew an investigation of the healing power and spiritual transcendence of Jajouka; instead, they have created a film so riveting and poetic that it transposes the experience of trance and emotional release onto the viewer. In Arabic, French; English subtitles. 59 min.