Fez — Morocco’s horsemen are heading for one of New York cinema’s biggest stages.

Moroccan-Iraqi filmmaker and photographer Tala Hadid will present the world premiere of “Bardi” at the 64th New York Film Festival on October 1.

Film at Lincoln Center announced the 109-minute Morocco-France-Qatar production as this year’s Currents Centerpiece.

Hadid is scheduled to attend a question-and-answer session following the October 1 screening, with another screening and Q&A planned for October 2.

Tbourida beyond spectacle

“Bardi” follows a group of horsemen in central Morocco as they practice tbourida, the centuries-old equestrian tradition built around synchronized riding and rifle fire.

But Hadid’s film is not simply documenting the performance as folklore.

Film at Lincoln Center describes “Bardi” as a mixture of portraiture and fabulation that examines how the riders transform through the ritual.

As the group travels through Morocco, the film follows a male world structured around codes of behavior, fraternity, performance, and physical control.

The festival specifically highlights the film’s interest in masculinity, describing the riders’ environment as geographically expansive but emotionally enclosed.

A recurring interest in Moroccan communities

“Bardi” continues themes Hadid has explored throughout her work.

Her previous feature, “House in the Fields,” followed an Amazigh community in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains and explored everyday life, tradition, family, and social change.

Film at Lincoln Center notes that Hadid’s work repeatedly examines how individuals within communities encounter myth, tradition, and the self.

With “Bardi,” those questions enter an overwhelmingly masculine space.

Tbourida itself is recognized as a deeply rooted Moroccan equestrian tradition, but Hadid appears interested in what happens between the ceremonial explosions.

The riders are performing history, but they are also performing themselves.

The 64th New York Film Festival runs from September 25 through October 12, with “Bardi” occupying a prominent position in its experimental and formally adventurous Currents section.

Its world premiere will bring a distinctly Moroccan cultural practice to New York audiences while asking them to see beyond horses and gunpowder.