FiveEyes

DIRECTOR'S WORD

Karim Debbagh

DIRECTOR'S WORD

“I felt like it was my duty to make a film about Paul Bowles and his Moroccan friends. I wanted to give them the space they deserve and show them as the true heroes of this story. It always saddened me to see the Moroccan perspective ignored or reduced to clichés. In the film, Bowles is more of a quiet presence—felt through his music, his writings, and the stories others tell about him.”
KARIM DEBBAGH

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

I grew up between the sea and the forest in Tangier, on a beach called Merkala. That is where I met Frieder, who opened the door for me into film production. Through him, I met Paul Bowles. I was 19, he was 82. He became a friend, a mentor, almost a spiritual father. That’s how my story began. The first time I walked into his apartment, it was dark and warm. Books were spread everywhere. In the middle sat an old man with white hair, receiving visitors like someone who had seen everything. I didn’t know why, but I filmed him. I kept that roll of film for years; it stayed with me like a question.

Later, I returned to Tangier searching for his friends, trying to understand what remained of Paul and what he had left in all of us. I met the people who shaped his Moroccan life: Mohammed Choukri with his raw truth, Mohamed Mrabet with his stories and drawings, Ahmed Yacoubi the painter who opened new worlds to him, and Larbi Layachi whose voice Paul helped bring to the page. Through them, I rediscovered pieces of the man I had known. I never really thought about time when I was with Paul. Only later did I understand how those moments and the people around him, marked me and formed the story I’m still trying to piece together today.

SYNOPSIS

Karim, one of the last young people to have known Paul Bowles, returns to Tangier to unearth the traces of the famous American writer. Using 16mm footage he shot 25 years ago, he brings back to life the memory of a forgotten Moroccan circle: the great writerMohamed Choukri, storyteller and painter Mohamed Mrabet, Temsamani, Paul’s driver for thirty years, and Boulaich, who was his driver during his final decade. All of them shared a close and personal bond with Bowles in the 1990s. Through tender memories, gossip, jealousy, and heartfelt stories, Paul and Jane Bowles appear for the first time through Moroccan eyes, far from the usual orientalist clichés.