A true pioneer of Moroccan cinema, Farida Benlyazid has to her credit many accomplishments that have made her a central figure in the nation’s cinema. She is the first Moroccan woman to produce a film, an accomplished screenwriter who has written several classics such as Poupées de roseaux (1981), Badis (1989) and Looking for My Wife’s Husband (1995) and the director of a body of work that addresses issues of spirituality, the status of women in society and the quest for justice and truth. A free and independent artist, Benlyazid has paved the way for many Moroccan women directors who have looked to the director of A Door to the Sky (1989) and Women’s Wiles (1999) as an inspiration and a model.