From the shores of El Jadida

Film by 560Zoom & Leila Gamaz - transcript

Below deep deep
Before people below shores
Old rocks sea
Deep water

Land name things they they
El Borj, Mazighen, Mazagan, Mazagão, El Mahdouma, El Jadida, Mazagan, El Jadida
New place

Old we old
Deep memories cling slow time
Curl curl

Warm rocks
Hum hum
Deep fossils

Lost glow chert
Bloom bloom

Below deep deep
They
Deep water

Memories
Great creatures
Come come go go

Warmed sea cool warm

Mansions churches empires
Fell rose fell rose fell rose

Below deep deep
People shores
Deep water
Old rocks

Hum ocean glow
Still night sea
Hum shrink shrink bloom

Below deep deep
Shore rocks

Sea memory creatures
Lost lost took took
Empires old
Long summer
Warm destroyed ocean

Below deep
Deep memory
Deep old
Deep time
Deep fossil

by Leila Gamaz

About the film

Title: From the shores of El Jadida

Artists’ names: 560Zoom (Leila Gamaz & 560Zoom)

Medium: Essay film (DV camcorder film)

Year of production: 2021

Duration: 6:07 min

The perception of Agar Agar extracted from red algae species (such as Gelidium sesquipedale) – commonly referred to as ‘Red Gold’ – is framed by its popularity in the Global North as a sustainable resource and its subsequent high market value. As humans we often think of species in terms of our relationship to them, and based on economic terms, but what would happen if the algae could tell its own story?

The centuries in El Jadida pass by. The algae witness human and natural history. The course of history, its back and forth of ruptures and repetitions, emerges in between the blurry and distorted memory fragments of the seaweed. What lies in the geography of El Jadida is explored through documentary fiction. The research on site, strolls through the endless Internet archive and in-between-conversations are enmeshed in visual and verbal storytelling from North Africa.