Malaga: The feature film Calle Málaga, by Moroccan director Maryam Touzani, was screened on Friday evening at the opening of the 29th Malaga Film Festival in Spain, held on March 6-15. The opening ceremony, organized at the Cervantes Theater in Malaga, was attended by the Spanish Minister of Culture, the Mayor of Málaga, the Moroccan Ambassador to Spain, and many figures from the worlds of politics, cinema, and media.

According to Agence Marocaine De Presse, Maryam Touzani emphasized that her film, a mixture of comedy and drama, reflects the complexity of life. “We laugh through tears and cry through laughter,” she said. The film’s screenplay, written following the death of Touzani’s mother, “was born out of pain and loss.” This difficult experience brought back memories of her mother, her grandmother Juana, and her hometown of Tangier, where there is still a street by the name of Calle Málaga.

Maryam Touzani also celebrates the dual Moroccan and Spanish culture of Tangier as “a treasure.” “In Calle Málaga,
different cultures and religions coexisted in tolerance and love. This is something precious in a world where more and more walls and divides are being erected,” she explained. Marking the director’s debut in Spanish, Calle Málaga is part of a sensitive body of cinematic work focused on themes of memory, belonging, and human connections.

Shot in Tangier, the film was chosen to represent Morocco at the Oscars after receiving acclaim at several international festivals, including the Venice Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Mar del Plata International Film Festival. The film tells the story of María Ángeles, a 79-year-old Spanish woman living alone in Tangier and deeply attached to her home, shaped by decades of cultural coexistence. This balance is disrupted by the arrival of her daughter, who has come from Madrid with the intention of selling the family apartment, creating tension between memory, heritage, and contemporary realities.

Maryam Touzani’s third feature film after Ada
m, presented in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, and The Blue Caftan, screened at the Cannes Film Festival and the Marrakech International Film Festival and shortlisted for the Oscars, Calle Málaga marks a new milestone in her artistic career.