Ait Atta: Nomads of the High Atlas (2020)

The Ait Atta tribe preserves their ancestral right of access to the agdal, a communal land management system that dates back hundreds of years in Morocco. The film follows Ben Youssef family's arduous transhumant journey from the desert-like landscape of Nkob to the green pastures of Agdal Igourdane, throughout uneven terrain of steep climbs and descents of the High Atlas mountains. A sensorial ethnographic story on the incredible movement and (im)mobilities of the family and their herd, the film juxtaposes the hopes and constraints, obligations and sacrifices of a family torn apart between their traditions and their need to adapt to modern life. Stretching over the past, present and the future, the film provides an inter-generational perspective on the essence and the very challenges of nomadism within an ever transforming Moroccan society.