P\u00eenzaru and Tribak first met at film school at La F\u00e9mis in Paris around 26 years ago. \u201cWe made a short film together in 2004 and we\u2019ve kept in touch over the years,\u201d begins P\u00eenzaru. \u201cSince then, we\u2019ve done almost every project together. Mohamed first came to me with the idea for Journal Intime and it\u2019s the final part of a trilogy of films we\u2019ve shot together, beginning in 2009.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first film in the trilogy is Le temps des <\/em>camarades<\/em> (2009), which is about the raising of the Islamic parties in universities in the north of Morocco. The second feature, Petits bonheurs<\/em> (2016) surrounds the years before the independence in the north of Morocco in and the emancipation of women in a society that is very patriarchal. It was a very delicate subject and it was the continuity from the first feature. It follows Noufissa, a fifteen-year-old girl and her mother who are forced to accept an invitation from a distant cousin to come live with her large traditional family after the death of her father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Journal intime<\/em> is about missing intimacy in a patriarchal society dominated by men. \u201cIt\u2019s set in a society where the frontier between men and women is almost unbreakable,\u201d adds P\u00eenzaru. \u201cIt\u2019s a behind the scenes look at all those missed rendezvous of two lovers in the north of Morocco. We didn\u2019t want to focus on a specific period of time for this. The first film was shot in 35mm in 2007. It was my first and last film shot on 35mm. The second one we shot in 2014, so we shot it in digital with ARRI Alexa XT and the last one was Alexa Mini.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n During prep, P\u00eenzaru watched Jillali Ferhati\u2019s The<\/em> Beach of Lost Children<\/em> as a reference for the aesthetic of the beginning of the 80s and for the mood of the female protagonist. The main inspiration, however, came from the works of Moroccan figurative painter, Rachid Sebti. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the few Moroccan figurative painters, as figurative painting is forbidden by Islam,\u201d explains P\u00eenzaru. \u201cYou find a lot of abstract and very interesting colours, but not figurative painting. So, it was the main inspiration in terms of themes of loss and melancholy in female characters, as well as the colour. It was a feeling I\u2019ve searched for in all three films.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The colour blue is very present throughout the film. P\u00eenzaru set out to interpret the colours in Islamic culture. \u201cThe colour blue doesn\u2019t signify hope like in occidental culture,\u201d she explains. \u201cIn Islamic culture, blue is more representative of danger. It\u2019s a colour that\u2019s barely mentioned in Arabic literature because the devil is blue. It\u2019s the equivalent of the colour red in Western culture. It was important for Mohamed to have a very light blue at the beginning of film and to build towards something more threatening and electric and for the colour blue to become more present towards the end. It\u2019s a colour of uncertainty and anguish and we wanted that to be apparent.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe colour blue sends information about the dangers and the precarity of the situation for Anissa Lanaya\u2019s character,\u201d continues P\u00eenzaru. \u201cThe Moroccan public understood this, but this wasn\u2019t as obvious for Western audiences due to their own interpretation of the colour blue within their own culture. It was important for me to reflect the culture of the place in which the film is set, however. I\u2019m Romanian myself and so I understand other cultural codes that might be different elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it came to the lighting approach, Tribak didn\u2019t want to focus on realism, but instead on the importance of memories. \u201cThe lighting isn\u2019t realistic in that sense and it\u2019s more stylised and I tried to avoid soft lights,\u201d says P\u00eenzaru. \u201cThe natural light and contrast in Morocco is very powerful, so he wanted something rough that wasn\u2019t so much about light, but something that resonates with our blue element which is in almost every frame of the movie. The blue colour is always present and evolving.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n P\u00eenzaru\u2019s goal was to emulate Aki Kaurism\u00e4ki\u2019s style, an overall style that although isn\u2019t very realistic, is stylised. \u201cMohamed was okay with this proposal. We have three moments in the film, before the preparation of the meeting, after the meeting and the streets and the final part. The boy is our sole focus in the beginning, then the two characters and then we focus on the young lady at the end. It was important to have characteristics for each separate part.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another important element was to portray closed and compact spaces throughout the film, giving the audience a sense of claustrophobia. \u201cWe don’t see the sky and the camera is almost always tight to the characters,\u201d explains P\u00eenzaru. \u201cWe wanted to be reflective of Morocco\u2019s cultural system where the space for the women and the space for the men is two worlds apart and everything is separated. The two characters are trying to have a rendezvous as two lovers, but everything is complicated by the stigma around that in their society. It was very important for our camera to reflect this. It was difficult for us because we didn\u2019t want to include the skyline and we didn\u2019t want to have anything open. Everything is closed \u2013 the walls, the buildings and the local stores for example. It\u2019s almost like a phantomatic city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n P\u00eenzaru and Tribak underwent numerous location scouts throughout Larache to find locations that would work. \u201cI was looking for places with textures that were not only aesthetically pleasing, but were suitable in terms of colours,\u201d adds P\u00eenzaru. \u201cI worked closely alongside our art director to find places that felt less contemporary. Moroccan films don\u2019t have loads of budget, so it was about finding the right locations from the beginning and trying to find a way to frame with what we had found. It works because we don\u2019t feel it\u2019s a modern city and it\u2019s timeless. The apartment is like a character in itself and so it was very important to find a good one; a little bit creepy and abandoned. We finally found the perfect location on our third scout.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The film was shot across four to five weeks with a modest sized crew. \u201cIt was difficult for the actors as we shot in one shot, long single takes, so it was a lot to choreograph. We had one and a half weeks for rehearsals and I had my little camera for still photography and I did a few shots to see the choreography of the actors in the space. It was important for me to find the frame in the set. We only rehearsed the rendezvous scene as it was the most complicated to shoot. It\u2019s a continuity of time, space and emotion and a little bit of everything.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n P\u00eenzaru enjoys the liberty that Tribak gives her when working on projects together. \u201cHe\u2019s very open to ideas and everybody and anybody can bring proposals to him,\u201d she says. \u201cI also enjoyed working with colours, as this is the first film I\u2019ve shot where the signification of colours is so integral to the film. It\u2019s a real evolving meaning throughout. It was also a pleasure to work with Anissa Lanaya because I shot her very first film and to see her almost ten years later and to see her more confident about her craft was very precious. She\u2019s very good with the camera. Long shots like this aren\u2019t easy for an actor. I wanted to give her the confidence to forget the camera is there and to focus on her performance. She was very much in confidence with me. It was very hard for her to build this character and relationships with the other characters and the film is on her shoulders.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n P\u00eenzaru and Tribak are already planning another project together, which will serve as the final instalment in the series. \u201cI hope to shoot it next year. It\u2019s the last part of the three movies we\u2019ve made together. It\u2019s something that is so rare and precious. We grew up together, we\u2019ve made short films and our first movies together and taken risks together. When you are working with a director you don\u2019t know it\u2019s different, but here I can try new things. From the beginning, I brought the idea forward about the blue colours with the same signification this colour has in Arab countries compared to western culture and he was a little bit reticent, but after I showed him some pictures and tested some things during prep, he let me try it. So, it\u2019s precious to have somebody who trusts you. It\u2019s instinctive working with him and the most important question for us, is how will Isucceed to translate in images, the feelings that the script wants to bring to theaudience,\u201d concludes P\u00eenzaru. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Additional Crew<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mohamed El Harrak <\/em>– S<\/em>et decorator <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jimmy Wolf Nguyen <\/em>– C<\/em>olo<\/em>u<\/em>rist<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n By Oliver Webb\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Journal intime follows the relationship of two lovers in Larache, Morocco in an unspecific period. The film explores upon the hurdles that stand in their way in a society that is conservative and unforgiving of non-marital relationships. Directed by Mohamed ChrifTribak, the film was captured by Tribak\u2019s frequent collaborator, Cr\u00eenguta P\u00eenzaru SBC. P\u00eenzaru and Tribak first met at film school at La F\u00e9mis in Paris around 26 years ago. \u201cWe made a short film together…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":14229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-productions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14225"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14232,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14225\/revisions\/14232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2025\/06\/IMG-20200708-WA0010-1-1200x800.jpeg\")
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