
Nabil Ayouch
Directing
Biography
Nabil Ayouch (born 1 April 1969) is a Franco-Moroccan television and film director, producer, and writer. His films have screened at international film festivals including the Cannes Film Festival and Montreal World Film Festival. Ayouch was born in 1969 in Paris, to a Moroccan father, Noureddine Ayouch and a French mother of Tunisian-Jewish descent. His brother is fellow director Hicham Ayouch. After his parents' divorce, he spent a large part of his childhood in the suburb of Sarcelles, visiting Casablanca in the summers. Ayouch cites discovering international cinema at the local cultural center, Forum des Cholettes, as inspiring his filmmaking career. Ayouch started his career as a scriptwriter and director with the advertising agency Euro-RSCG. In 1992, he directed Les Pierres bleues du désert, a first short film with Jamel Debbouze which tells the history of a young man convinced that there are large blue stones in the desert. In 1993, Ayourch ended up settling in Casablanca, where he directed two short films, Hertzienne Connexion (1993) and Vendeur de silence (1994), for which he received international recognition. In 1997, Ayouch directed his first feature film Mektoub, which represented Morocco at the Oscars. He also directed the feature films Une Minute de soleil en moins (2003) and Whatever Lola Wants (2008), produced by Pathé. In 1999, Ayouch created a production company called Ali n'Productions to aid aspiring young directors in establishing their careers. He won the Ecumenical Award in 2000 in the Montreal World Film Festival for his film Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets. Ayouch is set to produce the French-Moroccan thriller film Mirages. Ayouch's 2012 film Horses of God is based on Mahi Binebine’s novel The Stars of Sidi Moumen. In Horses of God, Ayouch explores the radicalization that can occur from poverty and extreme machismo, alluding to the 2003 Casablanca bombings. The film competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. It was also Morocco's submission for the 85th Academy Awards (held in February 2013). In 2021, Ayouch's film Casablanca Beats was selected for the 74th Cannes Film Festival competition. In February 2025, Ayouch joined the competition jury at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, presided over by Todd Haynes. Ayouch is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures, the Académie des Césars, and the Arab Film Academy. Ayouch's film Much Loved, which takes place in Marrakesh, caused a stir due to its unsimulated sex scenes especially the scene where Loubna Abidar performed an unsimulated fellatio on a man. The movie was ultimately banned in Morocco. Ayouch works and lives in Casablanca. He is married to fellow Moroccan filmmaker and actress Maryam Touzani. Source: Article "Nabil Ayouch" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
Known For

Maria Angeles, a 79-year-old Spanish woman, lives alone in Tangier, Morocco, and enjoys her daily routine. However, her life is turned upside down when her daughter arrives from Madrid to sell the apartment in which she has always lived. Determined to stay, she does everything she can to get her home and her belongings back and, unexpectedly, rediscovers love and sensuality.
Calle Malaga

A social drama about four marginalized prostitutes in Marrakech and their complex relations with their families and society at large.
Much Loved

Amina tries to provide for her family, just as an old acquaintance returns after serving a prison sentence to reopen old wounds.
Dar Nsa

Five female directors and five male directors tackle the contemporary male/female relationships through 10 fictions.
Masculin/Féminin

Touda is a Sheikha, a traditional Moroccan singer. Performing in the bars of her provincial town under the gaze of men, she plans to leave for the lights of Casablanca in search of recognition and to ensure a better future for her deaf-mute son.
Everybody Loves Touda

A middle-aged tailor and his wife find their relationship challenged by the arrival of a handsome new apprentice.
The Blue Caftan

A Brooklyn postal worker follows her Egyptian boyfriend to Cairo where she takes belly-dancing lessons from a legendary but disgraced Egyptian dancer.
Whatever Lola wants

The story of the comedy series “Souhalifa” begins when Al-Madani receives a call from his sister asking him to take care of her seven-year-old daughter, Israa. At that time, he did not know that the newcomer would turn his life upside down and break the monotony and silence of his home. “Souhalifa,” as he likes to call her, will make his life full of pranks and adventures, which will force him to change his entire lifestyle.
Souhlifa

Abla runs a modest local bakery from her home in Casablanca where she lives alone with her 8-year-old daughter Warda. Their routine of housework and homework is interrupted one day by a knock on the door. It is Samia, a young woman looking for a job and a roof over her head. The little girl is immediately taken with the newcomer, but her mother initially refuses to allow a pregnant stranger into their home. Gradually, however, Abla's resolve softens and Samia's arrival begins to offer all of them the prospect of a new life.
Adam

An Iranian family survives the shah and the ayatollah and moves to France. This story follows the family through it all. Despite the politics, revolution, prison, beatings, assassinations and suicides this is a comedy.
All Three of Us

Ali, Kwita, Omar and Boubker are street kids. The daily dose of glue sniffing represents their only escape from reality. Since they left Dib and his gang, they have been living on the portside of Casablanca. They live in constant fear of Dib's revenge. Ali wants to become a sailor - when he was living with his mother, a prostitute, he used to listen to a fairy tale about the sailor who discovered the miracle island with two suns. Instead of finding his island in the dream, Ali and his friends are confronted with Dib's gang. Matters are getting serious.
Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets

When a rapper-turned-teacher brings hip-hop to a community center in an impoverished area of Casablanca, his tough methods spark an explosion of talent.
Casablanca Beats

Morocco, from the past to the present. Five people who are connected to each other – Abdallah, Salima, Joe, Hakim, and Inès – without realizing it. Different faces, different struggles, but one same breath. One city, Casablanca as a fragment of reality, as the myth of a film entirely shot in Hollywood studios, which reality has come back to claim.
Razzia

Through interviews with historians, architects, archaeologists and local organizations, this documentary series describes the history of Casablanca, from its origins to the present day.
Ana Bidaoui

Hakim is an honest police officer deeply devoted to his daughter, finding great joy and happiness in her company. One day, his daughter is kidnapped. Hakim does everything in his power to find her, set her free, and bring her kidnappers to justice.
Lost in agadir

A young woman attending a conference in Tangier with her husband is kidnapped and raped, but rebuilds her relationship with her husband on a trip to the south of Morocco.
Mektoub

Zwaj El Waqt explores the themes of love and marriage in Morocco. Told through the testimonies of diverse couples, it tackles the issues of relationships, social media, control and sexuality in a conservative society that still struggles to discuss freely about those topics.
Zwaj El Waqt

The only entertainment for 10-year-old Aya, a domestic helper, is some TV and her fantasies about the sea. With her handicapped neighbor, she seeks a way to make her dream come true.
Aya Goes to the Beach

The film follows two brothers over the course of a decade. While they begin as kids in search of thrills in the sprawling slums of Morocco’s Sidi Moumen, we witness their gradual, and ultimately shocking, radicalisation.
Horses of God

Kamel Raoui, a young police inspector in Tanger, investigates the murder of drug-dealer Hakim Tahiri. The victim's mistress Touria, just living for her fatally-ill younger brother Pipo, is considered the main suspect, so Kamel learns more and more about their hard life circumstances. During the observation, the sexually-confused Kamel falls in love with the young woman, but realizes the imminence for Touria and Pipo too late.