Archive for the 'Morocco' Category

Leila Alaoui – the Photographer was killed by Jihadists – (10 July 1982-18 January 2016)

Friday, January 22nd, 2016
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    Photo by Leila Alaoui

    Leila’s homepage – see her works.

  • 1alaouiPix

    Leila Alaoui,photographer, born 10 July 1982; died 18 January 2016

    Alaoui was in Ouagadougou to work on a photography project for a women’s rights campaign called My Body My Rights for Amnesty International.

    The Artist who was killed by jihadists and what she was trying to tell the world.

    Family and colleagues pay tribute to a talented young photographer, shot dead by four heavily-armed thugs in an al-Qaeda attack on a popular café in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

    The Moroccans

    See a photo from Lebanon November 2013

    Another Sky

    Friday, September 28th, 2012
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    Another Sky – 1954 image via MUBI

    The only film directed by film critic and screenwriter Gavin Lambert (I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, Inside Daisy Clover), Another Sky unfolds around a demure and prim governess who arrives in Marrakesh, Morocco to begin a new job as a paid companion to a wealthy English expatriate. As she explores her exotic surroundings, she is seduced by the men, music, and mystery of her new home.

    Gavin Lambert (Wiki)

  • “A rare find..supremely realized” – Gus Van Sant… “..{a} haunting landmark film.” Joan Didion (via DVD cover)

  • Independent film review

    Beautifully capturing the 1950’s atmosphere of North Africa, D.P. Walter Lassally’s camera work is nothing short of extraordinary and hypnotic in tone and imagery as Lassally captures both the hedonistic spirit of the time along with the sublimely spiritual nature of the region. Lassally would later win an Oscar for his camera work on Zorba the Greek

    Walter Lassally also shot “Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and Tom Jones.

    Another Sky may be available at your local library.

    Gavin was a scriptwriter of Sons & Lovers (directed by Jack Cardiff – scroll down to see the clip)

    His final biography, Natalie Wood: A Life (2004) supplied an insider’s look at actress Natalie Wood and chronicled everything concerning her life, since Lambert was a friend of Wood for sixteen years. The book was praised by Natalie Wood’s daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner, as “a wonderful biography on my Mom. It will be the definitive biography on my mother.” Lambert’s biography includes Wood’s relationship with Elvis Presley, and interviews with the people who knew Wood best, such as Robert Wagner, Warren Beatty, Paul Mazursky, and Leslie Caron. In his book, Lambert controversially claimed that Wood frequently dated gay and bisexual men, including director Nicholas Ray and actors Nick Adams, Raymond Burr, James Dean, Tab Hunter, and Scott Marlowe. Lambert said he was also involved with Ray and that Wood supported homosexual playwright Mart Crowley (a later lover of Lambert’s) in a manner that made it possible for him to write his play, The Boys in the Band (1968). Lambert’s final book was The Ivan Moffat File: Life Among the Beautiful and Damned in London, Paris, New York and Hollywood (2004).

    My friend Paul Bowles

    Paul Bowles – The Night Waltz

    Esther Freud

    Saturday, September 13th, 2008
  • Hideous Kinky

  • Esther Freud is the daughter of painter Lucian Freud and Bernadine Coverley and is the great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud. Her semi-autobiographical novel was adapted to film, Hideous Kinky starring Kate Winslet. In the film the identity of the father of two girls is obscure. The film is best known as a post Titanic Kate Winslet vehicle where she established herself as a serious and daring actress, choosing an independent small project. I don’t remember how I found out that this is a story of Freud’s great grand daughters or daughters of Lucien Freud.

    Esther esther1 by Lucian Freud

    lucianfreudbellaandesther4

    Esther Freud’s novels have long reflected her family – but not her artist dad, Lucian. Jasper Rees hears why that has changed (Read more here)

    Paul Bowles – Henri Matisse – in Morocco

    Friday, December 31st, 2004

    Paul Bowles
    Paul Bowles was born on Dec 30, 1910.
    Tangier days Talking with Paul Bowles 1984-1988, from “Conjunction”, an interview by Richard Patterson.
    A conversation here. (Rob Couteau’s page.)
    A visit with Paul Bowles Moroccan Sojourn
    Music by Paul Bowles (via Paul Bowles Org.)
    Sample A
    Sample B
    Sample C

    Morocco and its artists
    Matisse in Morocco something strange.
    Moorish Cafe
    Here is an introduction to two books on Matisse,
    Hilary Spurling: The Unkown Matisse ,
    John Russell: Matisse. Father & Son.

    Henri Matisse was born on Dec 31, 1869.
    (Capricorn with Moon in Sagittarius – same as Tiger Woods,
    Umberto Eco, Takeshi Kitano and Paul Bowles.
    “This is a strange pairing of strict discipline with bold enthusiasm and idealism. You are a traveler at heart, and your restless nature has a need to be on the go all the time, either physically or mentally.”)
    Matisse said,
    “The essential thing is to spring forth, to express the bolt of lightning one senses upon contact with a thing. The function of the artist is not to translate an observation but to express the shock of the object on his nature; the shock, with the original reaction.”
    Bathers by a River, 1916-17Bathers by a River
    Merci Matisse and Paul Bowles for your dedication and your journey to unknown.
    From Morocco with Love, Happy New Year 2005.