HRH Prince Moulay Rachid endorses quality education as a key to everyone’s development

Marrakech –Morocco, December 10, 2007 – Under the Royal patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Moulay Rachid, the Seventh Marrakech International Film Festival - the major cultural collaboration - is holding the Master Classes, from December 8th in Marrakech Graduate School of Visual Arts (GSVA).

Prominent members and professionals of the international film community, including the veteran US movie director Martin Scorsese, present the Master Classes.

"The most important (thing) is the script and in the script I expect the character and the story," Scorsese said late Saturday.

"I am much more interested by the character than by the plot. ... There is no plot in "Taxi Driver", not in "The Last Temptation of Christ" and in "Gangs of New York" there is not a lot of plot," he said.

Scorsese's vast repertoire of work addresses issues ranging from Italian American identity, Roman Catholic concepts of guilt and redemption, machismo, and the violence endemic in American society.

Hosting those Master Classes, His Royal Highness Prince Moulay Rachid’s aim is to offer both students and festival-goers a unique opportunity to go behind the scenes and get a better understanding of the filmmaking process.

After all, not often will one meet filmmakers, cinematographers, sound designers, screenwriters and actors who share their experience.

These seminar meetings are instrumental in fostering or strengthening vocations.