| The Blue Caftan | |
| Director: | Maryam Touzani |
| Producer: | Nabil Ayouch |
| Starring: |
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| Cinematography: | Virginie Surdej |
| Editing: | Nicolas Rumpl |
| Music: | Kristian Eidnes Andersen |
| Studio: |
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| Distributor: |
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| Runtime: | 123 minutes[1] |
| Country: |
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| Language: | Arabic |
The Blue Caftan (released in France as French: Le Bleu du caftan) is a 2022 Moroccan Arabic-language drama film directed by Maryam Touzani, and written by Touzani with the collaboration of Nabil Ayouch. It depicts a woman and her husband, who run a caftan store in the medina of Salé, Morocco, and hire a young man as an apprentice.
The film premiered in the French: [[Un Certain Regard]] section at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival,[2] [3] where it won the FIPRESCI Prize in its section. Also, the Moroccan Cinema Center (French: Centre cinématographique marocain) chose The Blue Caftan to represent Morocco in the 2023 Oscars shortlist in the International Feature Film category.[4]
The film was selected to be screened in the French: [[Un Certain Regard]] section of the 75th Cannes Film Festival,[5] where it had its world premiere on 26 May 2022.[6]
The film was released in Morocco on 22 February 2023 by Megarama Distribution.[7] Ad Vitam Distribution released the film in France on 22 March 2023.[8] It was also released in Belgium on 29 March 2023 by Cinéart.[9] Danish distributor Camera Film released the film on 7 September 2023.[10]
International sales are handled by Films Boutique.[11]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 96% based on 54 reviews, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "A love story shaped by some surprising contours, The Blue Caftan surveys the hidden heart with compassion and grace."[12] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 83 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[13] The Blue Caftan received an average rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars on the French website AlloCiné, based on 27 reviews.[14]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgian Film Critics Association | 6 January 2024 | Grand Prix | The Blue Caftan | [15] | ||
| Cannes Film Festival | 28 May 2022 | FIPRESCI Prize – Un Certain Regard | [16] | |||
| Lumières Award | 22 January 2024 | Best International Co-Production | [17] | |||
| Magritte Awards | 9 March 2024 | Best Actress | Lubna Azabal | [18] | ||
| Best Foreign Film in Coproduction | The Blue Caftan | [19] | ||||
| GLAAD Media Award | 14 March 2024 | Outstanding Film – Limited Release | The Blue Caftan | [20] |