On May 12, the Special Projects Committee welcomed the audience to the DGA New York Theater for Global Cinema Series screening the Moroccan film Horses of God, followed by a discussion with Moderator Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia) and the film's director Nabil Ayouch (Whatever Lola Wants).
In his powerful film, Ayouch uses the platform of the fictional lives of the inhabitants of an immense Moroccan slum to reveal how fundamentalists used their impoverished neighborhoods as a hunting ground to recruit the terrorists who were eventually responsible for the very real Casablanca suicide bombings in 2003. Horses of God (Les chevaux de Dieu) earned an Un Certain Regard Award nomination and took home the François Chalais Award at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. The film was also Morocco’s official submission for "Best Foreign Language Film" consideration at the 2014 Academy Awards.
Ayouch’s other works include the feature films Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets, Mektoub; the documentary My Land; the movie for television A Minute of Sun Less; and the short film Les pierres bleues du désert.