“I think I became a filmmaker because, as Jean-Luc Godard once said, ‘Cinema is a country apart, another territory on the map of the world.’ I don’t like walls nor borders. I consider my films as bridges between people, especially between Jews and Arabs, but also, more generally, between Orient and Occident.” – Simone Bitton

We are proud to present the uncompromising work of award-winning filmmaker Simone Bitton, whose films engage with the complexities of history, identity, and political struggle. Her films have won numerous awards, including the César Award, the Marseille Festival of Documentary Film Award, and the Sundance Film Festival, Special Jury Prize.

As a Jewish French-Moroccan filmmaker and activist, Bitton has dared to criticize human rights abuses and has resisted dominant narratives that seek to inscribe Zionism on the Jewish diaspora. Through her thoughtful exploration of Middle Eastern and North African histories, Bitton offers vital, nuanced perspectives that confront questions of justice, memory, and identity. Her work embodies the bold, subversive documentary approach that we are committed to highlighting in our festival this year. 

Meet Simone Bitton

Simone Bitton is Moroccan and French , born in Rabat in 1955 . She has written and directed more than 15 documentary fi lms and series, attesting to her deep commitment to better representing the complex histories and cultures of the Middle East and North Africa. Many of her films have been selected to prestigious festivals, won numerous grand prizes, and were largely distributed. Her last film THE ONE THOUSAND AND ONE DAYS OF HAJJ EDMOND has been presented at the last Marrakech International film Festival and at the Cinema du Réel Paris Festival. Among her best known films are : ZIYARA (2020), WALL (2004), RACHEL (2009), BEN BARKA, THE MOROCCAN EQUATION (2001), MAHMOUD DARWICH, AS THE LAND IS THE LANGAGE (1988), PALESTINE , STORY OF A LAND (1993), and GREAT VOICES OF ARABIC MUSIC (1990).
 

This year's lineup

The Thousand and One Days of Hajj Edmond

Simone Bitton, Morocco/France, 2024, 90 mins

For screening times, click here.

Simone Bitton’s cinematic love letter to her late friend, Edmond Amran Elmaleh, explores the complex legacy of a former communist leader and activist for Moroccan independence. Through personal interviews, evocative recreations of Elmaleh’s photographs, and excerpts from his literary works, Bitton brings his memory to life. A Moroccan Jewish intellectual who rejected Zionism and stood in solidarity with Palestinians, Elmaleh’s life was shaped by the tragedies of Jewish departure from Morocco and Palestinian displacement. Bitton’s film captures the haunting parallels between these events, and sheds light on the intersecting personal and collective histories that defined Elmaleh’s identity and era.
 

Rachel

Simone Bitton, France/Belgium, 2008, 100 mins

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Rachel examines the life and death of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American peace activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza while attempting to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home. Simone Bitton’s film serves as both an investigation into her death and a eulogy for those who remember and mourn Rachel. Through testimonies from her family, fellow activists, and Israeli military spokespersons, Bitton paints a complex picture of youth, idealism, resistance, and the human cost of political struggle. In memorializing Corrie’s sacrifice, Rachel also reflects on how the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) inspired young people from Western countries to take part in non-violent resistance in Palestine. The film compels viewers to consider the price of activism and the ongoing fight for justice in Palestine.
 

Wall

Simone Bitton, France/Israel, 2004, 96 mins

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In Wall, Simone Bitton examines the construction of the Israeli separation barrier and its profound consequences for Palestinian life. Featuring the voices of Palestinian residents, Israeli officials, as well as the workers erecting the structure—the film exposes how colonial architecture becomes a tool of subjugation. The wall doesn’t just divide land; it reshapes perception and enforces surveillance, displacement, and control while embedding occupation into the landscape itself. Bitton’s lens captures the brutal absurdity of a structure designed to erase, restrict, and contain, offering a stark meditation on how built environments normalize segregation and suffering.
 

Ziyara

Simone Bitton, France/Morocco/Belgium, 2020, 99 mins

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In Arabic, Ziyara (زيارة) means visit to the saints. Celebrated filmmaker Simone Bitton embarks on a personal road trip across Morocco, tracing the remnants of the country’s once-thriving Jewish community. In the 1950s, Morocco was home to 300,000 Jews; today, only a small fraction remain, yet their saints’ tombs endure—cared for by Muslim guardians who preserve their memory. Through close examination of synagogues, shrines, and village records, Bitton uncovers stories of coexistence, loss, and endurance. Ziyara is both a meditation on migration and a hopeful reflection on shared heritage, revealing a delicate thread between past and present, tradition and modernity. As the camera gathers stories, smiles, and blessings, it patiently repairs connections long thought severed.