Ahmed Boulane

Ahmed Boulane (born 1 January 1956 in Salé, Morocco) is a Moroccan film director, producer and screenplay writer. Known as l'enfant terrible du cinéma marocain for his antics with journalists and his fellow filmmakers, he is considered to be one of the most talented directors in Morocco. After a stint working in theater and radio as an actor in Morocco and then living in Italy, he returned to Morocco where he worked for 25 years in various positions in the film industry: actor, location manager, production manager, casting director and first assistant director. He was first assistant director in more than fifty international feature films for renowned directors, such as Giuliano Montaldo, Carlo Di Palma, Alan J. Pakula, Philippe de Broca, Jean Delannoy and John Landis, among others.

His first short film, Voyage dans le passé received the prestigious Vatican award at the 7th Milan African Film Festival and launched his dream of a becoming a feature film director.

His first feature film, Ali, Rabiaa and the Others was removed from movie theaters a few days after its release, considered too controversial for Morocco, but he won several international awards for this project.

Despite a chaotic production where permits were refused at the last minute by certain Moroccan administrations, his second feature film, The Satanic Angels, was first at the box office in Morocco in 2008, ahead of films like Harry Potter and 300.

His most recent films are The Return of the Son in 2011, and La Isla, a co-production with Spain released in 2016.

In 2019 Ahmed Boulane published his first book Ma vie est belle, translated into English by Dana Schondelmeyer (What a Beautiful Life), a memoir of his childhood, adolescence and early twenties.

In 2019 he was nominated as the head of the grand jury for the Golden Movie Awards Africa.