Documentary Outreach to Morocco (2024)
Wrap Report
In July 2024, Actuality Abroad headed to Tangier, Morocco, for our mid-year Documentary Outreach program. Tangier sits right at the point where Africa meets Europe, so it’s got this mix of cultures that you can feel everywhere. You walk through tight alleys that open up into busy squares, catch the smell of spices, hear people chatting in different languages—it’s a city that keeps you on your toes. For our team, Tangier offered a fresh view around every corner and endless stories to explore.
LOCATION
On clear days, you can spot the Spanish coast across the water, just past Tangier’s small, lively harbor. Tangier has always been a meeting point for different cultures—it’s been Spanish, British, French, and even an international free zone before becoming a Moroccan port city. Now, it’s buzzing with both locals and travelers.
In the old town, you’ll hear greetings in French, Arabic, Spanish, and English, with each one opening up a chance for connection as people figure out which language to land on. Just outside the city, the landscape turns into Morocco’s classic dry, rocky terrain, but in Tangier itself, the lush greenery and breezes from the Atlantic and Mediterranean give it a unique feel.
The old Medina isn’t just for tourists—locals live, work, and shop here, bringing an authentic energy. It’s a neighborhood as much as a market, filled with the everyday life that makes Tangier’s heart beat.
STORYTELLING PROJECTS
In Tangier, we had the privilege of partnering with several local organizations, each making a powerful impact on the community in different ways. From social services and youth engagement to animal welfare and community-building initiatives, these groups represent the diverse strengths and needs of Tangier’s vibrant population. Here’s a look at each organization and the unique work they’re doing.
Darna Association: Supports community members through a range of programs, including job training, educational classes, a community restaurant, theater workshops, and a weaving center. Darna plays a crucial role in empowering local residents, especially youth, to build skills and find opportunities.
Momkin: Founded by Ayoub, a Darna graduate, Momkin focuses on engaging young people through acrobatics and performance training. They offer classes both in Tangier and rural Moroccan villages, bringing arts and physical expression to youth who might not otherwise have access to such opportunities.
Tamkeen: Works throughout Morocco to strengthen community ties by creating projects that bring people together in meaningful ways. Tamkeen’s initiatives are centered on fostering collaboration and building networks that offer both social and economic support across communities.
SFT Animal Sanctuary: This organization not only rescues and cares for animals in Tangier but also collaborates with community groups to improve quality of life in the city for both animals and people. SFT’s work highlights the importance of animal welfare as part of community health and well-being.
Our collaboration with the Live Room Project added a different dimension to our work in Tangier. The Live Room Project is a youth center dedicated to providing a creative space for young people to explore the arts. During our Outreach program, three young filmmakers from the center joined our crew, adding fresh perspectives to our projects. They learned new storytelling techniques and produced their own short documentary, sharing unique insights into life in Tangier through their eyes.
Partnering with these organizations underscored the diversity of needs and strengths within Tangier’s community. Each group offered something unique, whether supporting local families, strengthening cultural bonds, or giving young people a voice. Working together, we were able to support these changemakers in sharing their stories and making a difference in the city.
CREW MEMBERS
This Documentary Outreach brought together a diverse group of storytellers from around the world. Our crew included members from the United States, Canada, Australia, Lebanon, India, and Belgium, each bringing unique perspectives to the team. Alongside our Field Guide, we also had an Alumni Mentor—a past crew member who provided valuable experience and guidance to the group.
FORGING BONDS - WEEK 1 IN THE FIELD
For our Documentary Outreach in Tangier, nearly all of us stayed at the Dar el Kasbah Hotel, giving us a cozy, communal base. Each morning of Week 1 started with a group Briefing in the main meeting room, followed by a break for breakfast downstairs.
After Briefings, the crews set out to connect with their changemaker collaborators and dive into research. Some collaborations took off quickly—Tamkeen welcomed their crew right away, inviting them to meetings at the main office and workshops in villages outside Tangier. The SFT crew spent time in the city and made regular 45-minute taxi trips to the animal sanctuary. The Momkin team adapted to the organization’s rhythm, moving between staff members’ homes, workshops, and performance spaces.
Working with Darna, which runs multiple programs, came with its own set of challenges. The crew’s start was slower, as Darna’s busy staff had limited time for introductions. Taking initiative, the crew visited various Darna sites, from the community restaurant to the women’s boutique, consistently showing up to build rapport. Their dedication paid off, eventually leading to connections with key collaborators, including a former Darna student now leading their theater programs. By week’s end, they had found a strong protagonist for their story.
FINDING FOCUS: UNEXPECTED TURNS AND NEW STORYLINES
By the second week, the Darna crew hit a snag when the organization shifted its schedule for a nightly theater performance, throwing off the crew’s filming plans. Our Field Guide stepped in to help the team stay on track and keep morale up. Midweek, they took a break from their main project to create a short documentary about Darna’s weaving workshop and Women’s Boutique. Just as they started exploring alternate storylines, their original protagonist, Tarik, became available again, allowing them to dive back into their original story with fresh momentum.
The SFT crew split their time between the animal sanctuary and the city, guided by the SFT founder, who shared insights on the city’s animal rescue needs. Their focus turned to a volunteer who had been homeless and now found shelter and purpose at the sanctuary, tying together themes of human and animal resilience.
The Momkin crew discovered compelling stories, but without trips to remote villages during the Outreach, they had limited visual material in Tangier to show the full scope of Momkin’s work. To help, Ayoub, the founder, shared footage from past workshops in rural areas, giving the crew more content to work with. The challenge then became deciding how to start and end their documentary in a way that would reflect Momkin’s impact authentically.
The Tamkeen crew, meanwhile, found themselves with a packed schedule of meetings and workshops, leaving little time to process everything. Midweek, they took a step back to film a short piece on a local street artist, which helped them refocus before diving back into Tamkeen’s story. Their goal was to document not only Tamkeen’s mission but also its vibrant, hands-on approach to community work.
FILMING LIFE: THE PRODUCTION PUSH
Filming Week kicked off, and each Outreach crew jumped into production with energy and focus.
The Momkin crew worked through a series of interviews, looking for details that would bring their story to life. Though they had plenty of archival footage, our Field Guide encouraged them to film around the city to add fresh visuals and balance out the interview-heavy content.
The SFT crew prepared for an overnight stay at the sanctuary, ready to film the early morning feeding routine that’s central to the animals’ care. They faced the challenge of staying calm through the night to avoid setting off the dogs’ barking across the compound.
The Darna crew practiced patience as they waited for their main character—a theater program leader—to become available. They also sifted through archival footage, searching for clips that would add depth to their story.
The Tamkeen crew continued gathering stories and meeting new people, while our Field Guide reminded them to focus on material that would make it into their final film, balancing exploration with focused storytelling.
Across all crews, a shared challenge came up: the natural hesitance in Moroccan culture around sharing personal stories. Although people were open to talking, getting those stories on camera wasn’t always easy. The crews worked thoughtfully to build trust and bring out the stories that would resonate with audiences.
SHAPING STORIES: THE FINAL STRETCH
The energy at Dar el Kasbah was high as the Outreach moved into Editing Week. Crews transformed the meeting rooms, covering the walls with color-coded note cards to organize scenes and structure their Paper Cuts. Editors settled into comfortable spots around the hotel, focused on bringing their films together. Our Field Guide and Alumni Mentor moved from group to group, helping each team refine their stories and work toward a final cut.
Meanwhile, our resident photography student started her own projects, documenting the essence of Tangier’s old town and creating portraits of every crew member as a keepsake of their shared experience.
As editing continued, each crew realized they needed additional visuals, leading to a few last filming days around Tangier. For some, this meant more time with their main characters; for others, it involved gathering cityscapes to visually set their scenes.
The week wrapped up with a special screening event, generously hosted by our friends at the Live Room Project. Crew portraits decorated the room, heartfelt speeches were given, hugs were exchanged, and five powerful films were showcased—including a short documentary by the Live Room students who had joined our crews during production.
THE FILMS (SO FAR)
CREW EXPERIENCE
I would say this experience completely changed the way I viewed not only myself but my positionality as a documentary filmmaker. This trip awakened me with a sense of purpose I was unsure existed, and I’m glad to say I have since then found a new lust for life after my experience abroad in an entirely different region.
It was a very motivating experience that has made me more eager to make short films as well as delve into documentary
I truly feel like that month was magical, and all of my friends from the program agreed. As if we left the outside world to experience a new one and find our own community within the environment we were placed in. This experience taught me patience, how far teamwork can take you, as well as courage to approach someone (whether for the purpose of our documentary, or just to befriend a local).
I’m not the same person going out of it as I was going in. And all for the better! I find I have more confidence in my ability then I did prior too. Also the connections I made meant more to me than everything else. With my peers and the people that I was graced with meeting. Would do it again in a heart beat.
IN THE END...
It’s hard to know what Documentary Outreach participants will carry with them most vividly as they head home. The long hours of dedicated work on location are challenging but taken on with enthusiasm, driven by the impact of each project. Final goodbyes are always heartfelt after weeks of close collaboration, countless late nights, and rooftop gatherings filled with laughter and camaraderie.
But it’s never truly goodbye. Conversations continue, and future meet-ups are inevitable. This experience will be cherished, and the lessons learned here will elevate their storytelling in powerful ways. Our collaborators in Tangier are already sharing their stories with pride, marking the start of something that will ripple outward.