KAMAL HACHKAR

Kamal Hachkar is a critically acclaimed, French-Moroccan filmmaker of Amazigh (“Berber”) Muslim heritage. Born in Morocco but raised in France, Hachkar spent his summers with his family in their Moroccan hometown of Tinghir. After learning about a thriving Jewish community that once populated the town but that had left for Israel and was now erased from the history books, Hachkar was stirred to document, in film, the lost Judeo-Moroccan heritage. The result, From Tinghir to Jerusalem: Echoes from the Mellah, premiered in 2013 at the American Sephardi Federation’s 16th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival. Subsequently featured in festivals around the world, From Tinghir to Jerusalem was shown on Moroccan television, an unprecedented achievement for a film exploring a topic usually considered to be off-limits, and earned the prestigious Tangier Award, one of the highest honors in Moroccan cinema.