23rd edition November 20th to 28th, 2026
23rd edition
20 to 28 November, 2026
Karim Debbagh was born in Tangier in 1972 and was introduced to the film industry through his late friend, the US writer and composer Paul Bowles. Debbagh studied English literature in Tetouan and later graduated from studies as a producer at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg, Germany. In 2005, he founded Kasbah Films, which has become one of the leading production companies in Morocco. Debbagh works as a producer and line producer and is strongly committed to the welfare and development of the Moroccan film industry. As a producer, he has produced and co-produced several short and feature-length films that have been screened worldwide. Five Eyes marks his first feature-length documentary as a director.
Karim Debbagh, one of the last young people to have known Paul Bowles, returns to Tangier to unearth the traces of the famous US writer. Using footage he shot 25 years ago, Debbagh brings to life the memory of a forgotten Moroccan circle: the great writer Mohamed Choukri; storyteller and painter Mohamed Mrabet; Temsamani, Bowles’s driver for 30 years; and Boulaich, his driver during his final decade. All of them shared a close and personal bond with Bowles in the 1990s. Through tender memories, gossip, jealousy, and heartfelt stories, Paul and Jane Bowles appear for the first time through Moroccan eyes, well outside the usual orientalist clichés.
Director Karim Debbagh
Producer Karim Debbagh
Screenwriter Karim Debbagh
Cinematographer Paul Cohen
Editor Basma Rkioui, Shayma Jahad
Sound André Bendocchi-Alves
Music Paul Bowles
Production Company Kasbah Films