Name: Youssef Rabboui.
Place of Birth: Morocco.
Education, Qualifications, and Art projects:
Rabat High School, graduated 1970. (Studies interrupted because of my political involvement at this time, having become interested in the may 68 movement in France and its relation to Morocco.)
Studied for one year as a turner in Rabat, Discovered and became interested in contemporary Art and literature, (both eastern and western). Developed a keen interest in western surrealist Art and its connexion to the Art of Morroco.1971.
Studied literature, philosophy and Art in Rabat, Studied Sociology and Philosophy at Nancy Uni. France, where I got a degree. 1979. Studied Sociology and Philosophy at Aix en Provence, France and received a Master.1980. During my studies at this time, I was deeply involved with the student protest movement in France, and by the womens movement, that was taking place throughout the 70s and 80s.
I then went to study in the Frankfurter School of Philosophy, where I became especially interested in the works of Herbert Marcuse, who still has a strong influence on my work to This day. After my Masters degree, I worked for seven years as a College Lecturer at Seine Saint Denis, Paris, France. While working there I decided to do a Thesus about Herbert Marcuse in F.U.(Free Uni. Berlin, Germany.)
It was in Berlin where I first became interested in Film making as an Art form with which to express my ideas, and since 1994, I have been working as an independent filmmaker and actor Because of my political involvement and my passion for Art, I always try to bring the two together in my work, whether it is writing poetry or making a film. My films are never made as commercial projects, which gives me the freedom to express my own personal, political and social ideas.
Therefore, I define my self as a 'Citizen Film Maker'. The film 'Homezone' was made on location in Wedding, Berlin, working with residents of this area rather than trained actors, the boys in the film are living the lives that they played in the film. The film was part of a social integration project that I became involved with.
My current project is a feature length film in Morocco about the relation between Black Berbers and French colonialism. This film is a reaction to the current, and somewhat inaccurate conservative ideas that are coming out of France under the label of 'positive colonialism' which tend to ignore the reality of what went, and is going on.
I am also working on a documentary project about the political activist Angela Davies.
I am an incurable romantic, I cannot be anything else. |
