THE ARTIST
Mahassine El Hachadi is a young Moroccan filmmaker, based and working in Marrakech, Morocco. In 2010, she received a bachelor’s degree in film from ÉSAV Marrakech. This degree, in addition to a Master’s in Directing she received from ÉSAV Toulouse in 2015, allowed her to write and direct several short fictions and documentaries.  Recently she has been awarded a bursary to attend the London Film School as a sponsored researcher. She was also selected as a Fellow in the 2017 American Film Showcase Documentary Workshop in Los Angeles.She has won many awards and participated in numerous prestigious international film festivals, including Clermont Ferrand, Namur, the Festival vue d’Afrique, the National Festival of Tanger, the Human Rights Film Festival in Barcelona. Her film Apnea was screened at the European Parliament in Brussels to represent women in the Moroccan film industry.

 THE RESIDENCY
During her time at BAR  El Hachadi worked on editing Revenge, her latest film. Revenge is predominantly about the anger and violence against Morocco's LGBT community.  In recent years, many cases of public violence against homosexuals have occured in Morocco.  Due to the widespread use of social networks, these cases have sparked controversies in the Moroccan society. In August 2015, during the Holy month of Ramadan, a young homosexual was beaten to death by a crowd of “so-called” believers in Fes. This event shocked El Hachadi and drove her to work on Revenge.