Farida Benlyazid (born March 18, 1948, Tangier, Morocco) is a Moroccan scriptwriter, producer, production manager, novelist, and director.
She has become known for representing the struggles and obstacles faced by Moroccan women and incorporating her own personal experiences into her scripts and films.
[1]: 343 Carter further states that the relationships between gender, society, and religion are articulated in Benlyazid's work, which represents women as multi-dimensional and individualist, each defined by their own age, class, and personal and cultural upbringing.
[1]: 344 Farida Benlyazid's interest in the world of cinema began at a young age, inspired by her mother's intrigue.
For example, Benlyazid grew up in Morocco speaking with her mother in Spanish and her father in Arabic, resulting in the formation of a multicultural identity.
[1] Longing for education and the ability to travel, Benlyazid was restricted by her then-husband who, due to the Moroccan interpretation of Islamic law prior to the nineties, was the only one who could file for a divorce.
[2] According to Florence Martini, Benlyazid is considered throughout the Middle East and North Africa to have challenged traditional institutions and beliefs in Morocco by neglecting to impose any forms of self-censorship when portraying the monarchy or religion.
Scholars such as Sandra Gayle Carter state this representation stems from Benlyazid incorporating her own personal philosophies on gender, humanity, and religion into her scripts and films.
Carter argues that although Benlyazid received a Western education, the director's feminist approach to the representation of Moroccan women's struggles is anything but eurocentric.
In her films, Islam is always portrayed as a soft image and a religion that boasts equality between men and women[citation needed].
She uses common techniques of Islamic feminists in her films, including the rewriting of old myths and stories by giving women their own voices[citation needed].
[8] In a review of the film by Viola Shafik in Arab Cinema, History and Cultural Identity, Shafik notes that A Door in the Sky appreciates traditional aspects of Islam and Western approaches to feminism, which in fact have a long-held tradition in Islamic culture and can be used in female self realisation.
The main character in Bab al-sama' maftooh, Nadia, leaves Paris for her native home in Fez, Morocco to see her dying father.
The son of the sultan quickly falls in love with Lalla, but he doesn't believe that women are or should be as intelligent as men.
The two marry, and the sultan's son is still convinced of a woman's inferiority, so he locks her in the basement for three years to punish her for shaving his beard.