Fez — Moroccan audiences will be able to watch “Fatna, a Woman Named Rachid” on 2M on Sunday, April 12 at 9:35 p.m. as part of the channel’s “Histoires et des Hommes” strand, bringing one of Morocco’s most powerful memory stories back into public view.
Directed by Hélène Harder, the documentary centers on Fatna El Bouih, a former political prisoner whose life remains closely tied to the legacy of Morocco’s “Years of Lead.”
The film revisits a brutal chapter in El Bouih’s life. As a young activist, she was arrested, imprisoned, and forced to live under the male name “Rachid,” a label imposed on her in an attempt to erase her identity.
Decades later, the documentary returns to her at age 67, not as a figure frozen in trauma, but as a woman still engaged in public life and social struggle.
Rather than limiting itself to testimony about the past, the film tracks El Bouih’s present-day commitments.
It follows her work with women survivors of Syria’s Saydnaya prison, her advocacy for detainees’ rights, and her involvement in organizing a film festival for incarcerated minors. That structure gives the documentary a dual force: it is both a memory film and a portrait of a life still shaped by resistance.
A major part of the film’s impact appears to come from its visual method. Reports describe a careful blend of restored archival material and contemporary footage, creating a bridge between Morocco’s collective political memory and El Bouih’s personal story. The voice-over, written by El Bouih with Harder, reportedly adds an intimate layer of reflection, pain, and persistence to the film’s narrative.
The documentary has already circulated in festival spaces before its television broadcast.
It screened at the Marrakech International Film Festival in late 2025, where festival material described it as a sensitive journey between past and present.
Production notes also identify the project as a 93-minute documentary produced by Wendigo Films with Moroccan co-production support from Abel Aflam and other partners.
