Randa Maroufi
La Grande Safae - Film - 2014
presented as part of the exhibition Panorama 16
The film could be presented as an experimental documentary freely inspired by a character who really existed, and who disappeared in the 1980s, known as La Grande Safae. He was a transvestite, and spent part of his life working as a domestic servant for my family, which was quite unaware of his “true” sexual identity. Genuine witnesses and actors tell stories about him and describe this enigmatic figure who for many years was a fantasy figure for me. Three actors – two women and a man – play the role of Safae and help sketch a portrait of this elusive person. By combining real-life events and a fictional approach I raise the question of the mise-en-scène and truth of events while evoking the perception of a troubled identity.
Born in 1987 in Casablanca. She currently lives and works in Paris.
Randa Maroufi is a graduate of the National Institute of Fine Arts, Tetouan, Morocco (2010) and the School of Fine Arts, Angers, France (2013). She also earned a diploma from Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains, Tourcoing, France (2015). Randa Maroufi has been Artist Member of Academy of France in Madrid at Casa de Velázquez in 2017 – 2018.
Belonging to the generation that grew up in an era dominated by image, she collects them with as much eagerness as suspicion, and ceaselessly questions their veracity. She prefers to put her ambiguous fictions in the service of reality, and the field of her experimentation encompasses the occupation of public space and gender issues, of which she highlights the founding mechanisms.
The experimental works of filmmaker and artist Randa Maroufi explore an elastic awareness of reality. Her films and moving images often employ special effects and other formal devices that alter perceptions of time, space and movement.
Her recent group exhibitions include: Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE (2019); MA Museum, Quebec (2019); Biennale de Dakar, Senegal (2018); Bienal do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, Brazil (2018); Boghossian Foundation, Brussels, Belgium (2018), Sharjah Biennial, Lebanon (2017); Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2017); KAI 10 | Arthena Foundation, Düsseldorf, Germany (2017); Videonale e. V., Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany (2017); New Directors / New Films at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2016); International Film Festival Rotterdam, The Netherlands (2016); African Photography Meeting, Bamako, Mali (2015); the Marrakech Biennale, Morocco (2014), etc.
She has received many awards for her film Le Park (2015), and Bab Sebta (2019).
Production
Acknowledgments
La Grande Safae, ma famille. Judith Abensour, Thomas Bauer, François Bonenfant, Daniel Dobbels, Bernard Faucon, Christophe Le Gac, Laurent Millet, Christian Rouillard, Madeleine Van Doren, toute l’équipe du Fresnoy, l’équipe technique et artistique du tournage. Merci à tous ceux qui, quoiqu’ils fassent, nous aident…
