Each fall for the past five years, HAF has hosted an annual fundraising event in New York City to support development projects with rural communities throughout Morocco.  These events have traditionally taken the form of Moroccan heflas, featuring North African food, art, music, silent auctions, and distinguished honorees. For the 2010 event, HAF is pursuing something more ambitious: a Moroccan film festival that shows audiences there is more to Moroccan film-making than made-in-Hollywood films like Casablanca and shot-in-Morocco international productions like Gladiator and Babel.

The festival is scheduled for Friday, October 29th and Saturday, October 30th at New York City’s famed TriBeCa Cinemas. The opening evening will be a gala featuring a carefully selected Moroccan film and a reception that features Moroccan hors d’oeuvres and a question-and-answer session with the director of the film.  The following day will be an all-day affair designed to interest film buffs and Morocco-philes alike.  On this day, eight films will be featured.

We are currently selecting and obtaining permission to show films, and are grateful for the support of of Morocco’s Centre Cinématographique Marocaine and the dynamic new Ecole Supérieure des Arts Visuels film school in Marrakesh.

We are also pleased to share with you opportunities to sponsor the event. A sponsorship starting at $5,000 would make an important difference for rural Moroccan communities and provide an effective avenue for publicizing your company or organization. Please see the attached proposal for more information on sponsoring this event.

Our goal for this event is to raise $100,000 to support community designed and managed development projects in Morocco – primarily in fruit tree agriculture, irrigation, clean drinking water, and women and youth initiatives – while at the same time advancing cross-cultural appreciation and partnership.

In 2010, HAF planted 60,000 walnut and cherry saplings that will benefit 5,000 people, provided clean drinking water for 2,000 people, and has trained over 50 graduate students and local politicians, at its training center at Hassan II University-Mohammedia, in applying participatory planning methods that assist local people in identifying their priority development needs.  With your support, we can and will do so much more.

Thank you to event Co-chairs Daniel Cahill (cahilld@nyc.rr.com) and Richard Alleman (REAlleman@aol.com).  Please feel free to contact them with your questions and ideas.

See you at the festival!