La Cinematheque

The renovation of Tangier’s cinema Riftm at the grand socco was realized by the moroccan artist Yto Barrada, who transformed this historical room into a cinematheque dedicated to arabic cinema. By redefining the long and narrow space of the main room, we were able to create a 300-seat room and a second, more intimate 50-seat room with club chairs, intended for showing films to an amateur public followed by discussion, and for first views by film crews at work. We’ve also created a consultation room for film archives, a video editing room, a stage with a dressing room, a restaurant-café, offices and staff’s quarters. This project promotes the strong tangierian identity of cinema Riftm while giving it a new dynamic with its role as a cinematheque. A place of exchange and influence, this new moroccan structure has been saluted abroad, from new york by the ny arts magazine to Paris by the trendy boutique merci that makes its coffee the way they do at the cinematheque.