This documentary produced and broadcast in October 1999 during the Tahqiq show on Moroccan TV channel M2, addresses the issue of illegal immigration. The survey presented over two-50 minute episodes, directed by Mohamed Saad Alaoui, gives voice to those who decide to experience migration to Europe. Ever since the country’s independence in 1956, legal as well as illegal flows to France and other Western countries such as Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany or Canada, have been numerous. So much so that migration has come to be considered a necessary experience for the young generations of Moroccans willing to be successful in their lives.

 

            Mohamed Saad Aloui decided to take the shots in Tangier, the doorway to Europe. In the manner of a sociological survey, the greatest emphasis is placed on personal accounts. Men and women of all ages, motivated by various reasons, share their migration experiences that pretty often come down to the adventurous illegal crossing of the sea.

 

            The second part of this documentary, broadcast on November 10, 1999, concentrates more on the illegal crossing and its effects. The decision to go to Europe is not without risk: personal accounts describe the stages of this dangerous journey that can sometimes take a turn for the worse. Accounts, of which some are anonymous, and most are emotional, by miserable would-be migrants, images of repression and police stations, official statements accentuate the sometimes serious pitfalls of this experience.               

 

Mohamed Khachani, Mohamed Mghari, The Moroccan immigration in Spain, Report of the MEDA program funded by the European Commission, 2006.

Online:

http://www.carim.org/Publications/CARIM-AS06_09-Khachani+Mghari.pdf