In the migrant worker family I grew up in, there were no books to be found. The idea of creative expression felt far removed from my world. In the mid-1990s, as a young student, I wandered around, struggling with the question of what to do with myself and my life. During that time, I happened to see a fragment of a documentary on television that would change my life.

It was a documentary about an older, distinguished American writer who had lived in Tangier (Morocco) for many years. I borrowed The Sheltering Sky by that same American author, Paul Bowles, from the nearest library. The book left a profound impression on me. It opened the door to the world of art and literature. Through Bowles' work, I discovered the stories of Mohammed Mrabet, an illiterate storyteller from Tangier who inspired Bowles and collaborated with him. Bowles recorded Mrabet’s stories on tape and translated them into English. Their collaboration resulted in fourteen books, including novels and short story collections, which have been translated into thirteen languages worldwide. Mrabet's body of work offered me a new perspective on Morocco, my country of origin, and on Tangier, the city shrouded in myth and legend.

The Moroccan storytelling tradition, hikayat, is more than a thousand years old. Hikayat is the ‘street’ form of passing on moral lessons, preserving cultural traditions, and entertaining people with folktales. Many storytellers were illiterate. Some stories lasted for days, told in parts over the course of a week in cafés where kif was smoked.

In the mid-1950s, a young Mohammed Mrabet spent his days in those cafés, listening to the stories. It was during this time that the seed for his own gift as a storyteller was planted.

Mrabet is now 86 years old. His résumé reveals a wild and colorful life: illiterate, storyteller, painter, fisherman, boxer, driver, bodyguard, fugitive, cook, and bartender. But he became famous for his phenomenal talent for storytelling. That talent brought him into the company of renowned Beat Generation figures such as Paul Bowles, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Truman Capote, and Tennessee Williams.

Paul Bowles had lived in Tangier for some time, and the American artist colony lingered there through the wild years of the 'International Zone,' when anything and everything was possible, and cheap. The strikingly handsome young Mrabet was not only a witness to, but also a centerpiece of decadent Tangier. His fame soared when Paul Bowles transcribed his stories. In the 1960s and 1970s, playwright Tennessee Williams paraded him around as a trophy guest in New York and Hollywood.

A years-long friendship developed between Paul Bowles and Mrabet, one that was extraordinary but also uneasy, fueling speculation and myth-making from the start. Bowles, the older, homosexual American intellectual, and Mrabet, the young, handsome, illiterate fisherman. People who knew Bowles well have confirmed that their decades-long friendship also included a sexual relationship, something Mrabet has always denied. The friendship between Bowles and Mrabet lasted more than 30 years but ended in the mid-1990s due to disputes over money and royalties. In his old age, Mrabet feels bitter toward those he believes exploited him.

Today, Mohammed Mrabet is all but forgotten. He lives in a small alleyway in Tangier, surrounded by his paintings and the memories and stories he has recorded on countless cassette tapes, still hoping that someone will turn them into a book, as in the glory days.

To me, Mohammed Mrabet represents an 'authentic gaze' on Tangier’s history, a history we mostly know through Western eyes. Yet, more importantly, Mrabet's personal story brings forth urgent, contemporary questions: Who owns the story? This question touches on issues such as inequality, neo-colonial power structures, exploitation, and bitterness. As a filmmaker, I carry these questions throughout the film.

Thus, MOHAMMED & PAUL - Once Upon a Time in Tangier offers not only an insider's view of a legendary period in Moroccan history but also, for me, the right film at the right moment.

-Nordin Lasfar