Noiseless, Desert Extras

Ouarzazate is a city of 71,000 in south-central Morocco that is a magnet for Hollywood directors looking for desert and mountain landscapes for biblical and war films. As a result, locals are able to pick up additional work as extras. One of them is Malika, who has appeared in over 200 projects, mainly because of her ability to cry at will. In this documentary, however, the emotions are genuine, revealing the hidden intentions of film crews coming to Africa like colonizers and trying to use the naivety of the locals to showcase their own ideology. In this visual essay, the filmmakers question where the line is that separates the reality of these desert people from the film fiction created by outsiders. Interviews and reenactments shed light not only on the town's rapidly disappearing authenticity but, above all, on the (noiseless) killing of human emotions.