Fez to Casablanca

We've had a heavy week's shooting in Fez for our film about Leo Africanus. We shot scenes about his childhood, university days and his first job as a scribe at a mental hospital. Astoundingly all the locations are still there in the Medina. His university, Al Karouine, is the oldest institution in the world to have continuously issued degrees: sadly they wouldn't let us film inside. The hospital - or maristane - where he worked is also still standing and is used as a market now. We also found some old lodging houses next to the university and it's quite possible that he lived and worked there.

We also travelled to just outside Fez to find the farmlands that Leo's father owned and where Leo liked to go for quiet retreats.

Then we headed for Casablanca by train..

Here's a short timelapse shot during the 4 hour train journey.



We were en route to meet and interview an old friend of mine called Tahir Shah: more about Tahir in the next post.

I shot this in short bursts, hand held on a D700 and then made the slideshow in Aperture.

Leo Africanus Shoot

After a few short weeks of planning we finally set off on the trail of Leo Africanus: a 16th century geographer who wrote the first accounts of the interior of north Africa.

His story is fascinating. Born in Muslim Granada around the year 1490, his family fled the forces of Ferdinand and Isabel and the Spanish Inquisition. They found refuge in Morocco in the city of Fez. Later Leo began to travel as diplomat, spy, merchant and writer. His travels would take him across the Sahara to Timbuktu, to Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and beyond. In 1518 he was captured by Christian privateers and presented to Pope Leo X as a tribute. While in captivity he was baptised and took the name of Leo. At this time he wrote his great work on Africa.

We’re following in his footsteps for BBC film. So far we’ve shot in Grandada and made an epic crossing from Europe to Africa and we’re now in Fez.

The day we made our crossing was my first day of proper travel for nearly a year: I’ve not covered so much ground since filming in South East Asia for ‘Tropic of Cancer’. On Sunday we travelled for 17 hours crossing from Europe to Africa by ferry. The trip went
Grandada to Gibraltar – shoot at Europa Point
Gibraltar to Alagaceras
Algaceras by ferry to Cuerta – a Spanish enclave in Morocco.
Cuerta to Tatouan – where we stopped for mint tea and pastries
Tatouan to Fez – 7 hours by road through a miserable thunder storm. We stopped half way for kofta…