Synopsis
The secluded gardens of Fez, once symbols of natural abundance and a thriving culture, now stand abandoned as silent witnesses to a changing world. These hidden courtyards and parks, their fountains, wells and resident deities and djinns, are as much connected by the water that flows through the city as by the memories of the inhabitants of Fez. Rajae, a school teacher, is developing a play to preserve their stories, while a gardener, an architect, a poet and a dancer, each reflect on the worlds they enclose. Through their acts of care– in rituals and song, as well as in the city’s daily upkeep of fountains and parks, past and present intertwine. Gradually the perspective shifts to what is on the other side of its felt absence.
Directors statement
Since I first came to Fez in 2012, I was intrigued by the traditional gardens of the old Riads and palaces of the medina, and how they mark the division between inside and outside, private and public life. Being deserted for many years, they were slowly turning into ruins. A gradual process that, as I learned, was taking place because of multiple reasons, such as the discarded traditional water systems, pollution, and the impact of modernisation that cut the city off from its vital resources. Rajae is one of the first people I met in Fez. Through our friendship, and the stories of the people I met, I became aware of an intricate web that interlinked the gardens with other spaces, both domestic and public, intimate and spiritual, that make up the hidden structures of the city. I saw the secluded gardens as repositories of time within a changing urban landscape. In my film, I present these gardens as spaces that exist in between, where different realities of past and present can meet. Here I deposited the narratives from seven individuals, including an architect, a gardener and a poet. In intimate settings real images merge with imaginative recollections, creating a dialogue between what is seen and what can be felt. The gardens become a lens to observe these different worlds that once coexisted without saying. About the director
Her recent exhibitions took place at le18 in Marrakech (MA), Jut Art Museum in Taipei (TW) Bureau Postjesweg in Amsterdam, TENT in Rotterdam (NL), Do a Front in Yamaguchi (JP).
