HIBAPRESS – I. Asmalali
The film "Hotel Salam" is preparing to open a new chapter in the course of Moroccan cinema by moving towards "horror cinema" and psychological suspense, as this work comes as the fruit of a high-level artistic collaboration between director Jamal Belmadjoub and the company "Jacaranda Productions".
After an international tour of excellence that included festivals in Brazil, Austria, and Spain, and its crowning with the Best Editing Award at the National Film Festival in Tangier, the film had a pre-premiere screening at the Cinematheque in Rabat, paving the way for the Moroccan public to be welcomed in cinemas.
This narrative film carries a special emotional value, as it documents one of the last creative participations of the late artist Mohamed Choubi, who starred in it with a group of important names, led by Salwa Zahrane, Sami El Fekkak, and Benaissa El Jirari.
On the narrative level, the film takes us to the city of Marrakech, where human drama intersects with the worlds of the unseen, through the story of a young hotel owner who finds himself facing an ancient curse awakened by greed and the search for a buried treasure.
Jamal Belmadjoub rephrases the duality of "man and the jinn" with a cinematic vision immersed in local culture, demonstrating how human bonds collapse in the face of fear and hidden forces.
Thanks to the high production of Ahmed Abou El Naoum, Sanaa El Kilali, and Myriam Abou El Naoum, complete decorations were relied upon inside special studios, giving the work a visual imprint that combines realism and magic.
