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The Bride Market of Imilchil
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Filmmaker Name:
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Christian & Steffen Pierce
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Film Length:
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51 min
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Film Year:
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1987
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Decade:
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1980s
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Language:
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Arabic, Amazigh, and English
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Subtitle Language:
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with English subtitles
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Color:
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color
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Region:
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Africa
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Subject:
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Social and Cultural Life
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Each September, during a three-day event, eligible men and women from the Berber tribes of Aït Benhaddou in central Morocco gather in front of the shrine of Imilchil to select a spouse and marry. Through interviews and observational footage The Bride Market of Imilchil presents an intimate portrayal of the Souk Aam marriage festival, enabling viewers to read the signs and subtle behaviors that shape this unique ritual, and offering insight into local ideas about marriage and divorce. In the final sequences, the film suggests the increasing presence of tourists as an explanation for the declining participation in the festival.
Shot in 1985 and originally released in 1987, the film remains a classic in ethnographic cinema and is an excellent resource for teaching about gender, kinship, and related topics.
“This is an exciting film. The very content captures attention. The photography is superb, not only aesthetically satisfying with its often muted colors, but also sensitive in its lingering portrayal of hands, faces, body language. An old woman praying, a dust storm in slow motion, accelerated shadows of clouds across the tent city: these are scenes of rare beauty…”
— Visual Anthropology Review, Spring 1990
The Bride Market of Imilchil
Directors & Producers
Christian and Steffen Pierce
Cinematography & Audio
Christian and Steffen Pierce
Additional Cinematography & Audio
InterviewsChristian and Steffen Pierce
Rebecca Willis
Berber & Arabic Translators in ImilchilMohammad Boudriq
Mohammad Elkatouri
Mohammad Ridad
Production Coordinator
Offline Editors
Christian and Steffen Pierce
Online Editors
Tom Barber
Steven Rasch
Tom Shaker
Post Production Berber & Arabic Translator
Mohammad Nabil El-Baz (The Hawk)
Post Production Assistant
Film to Video Transfer
Brodsky and Treadway
Post Production
Boston Film and Video Foundation
Video One
Office Facility
Peirce, Pierce and Kramer
Thanks to
Victor Batalle
Bob Brodsky
Marisa Carralero Bonilla
Wayne Chasan
John Duchelle
Kathy Rae Huffman
David and Pia Mayburry-Lewis and Cultural Survival Inc.
Genevieve McMillan
Lisa Meister
Walter and Marianne Pierce
Toni Treadway
Rene Westbrook
Special Thanks to
Aisha, Abissah and the community of Imilchil, Morocco
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