Aziz Tazi is a Moroccan

film writer A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. T ...

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

and producer featured in ''

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''s 30 Under 30. Tazi made his directorial debut with the feature film ''Night Walk''. The crime drama was acquired by

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and is the first Moroccan film in history to get Hollywood distribution. Prior to ''Night Walk'', Tazi's short film ''Imago'' opened the

Arab Film Festival The Arab Film Festival (AFF) is the flagship program of the Arab Film and Media Institute (AFMI) a nonprofit organization that hosts the largest and longest-running independent Arab film festival in the United States. It is held in California each ...

in 2013. His documentary ''Arab Stories'' aired on

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in 2014. Tazi has also directed music videos for French rapper

La Fouine Laouni Mouhid ( ar, العوني محيد , ; born 25 December 1981), commonly known by his stage name La Fouine (, ; ), with additional aliases such as Fouiny Babe or just Fouiny (), is a French rapper and singer of Moroccan descent. He is own ...

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and

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have covered his work as well.

Early life

Aziz Tazi grew up in Casablanca, Morocco. At 14, he used

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and

Adobe After Effects Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application developed by Adobe Inc., and used in the post-production process of film making, video games and television production. Among other things, After Eff ...

, along with

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to create 15-min short videos based on the game

Counter-Strike ''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games in which teams of terrorists battle to perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking, assassination) while counter-terrorists try to preven ...

. The videos went viral and some were awarded "Best Visual Effects" and "Most Innovative" by a gaming website after he turned 15. At age 17, Tazi moved to France and worked with Denis Freyd on ' directed by . Eventually, Tazi settled in California after graduating with two Masters of Science from Ecole Centrale Paris and

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

Career

In 2011, Tazi directed a documentary short called ''"Emilie"'' about France's first-ever female Olympic champion in gymnastics Emilie Le Pennec. The short won the "Orange Reporter" Award for Highest Achievement in Creativity. In 2012, he received funding from his engineering school Ecole Centrale Paris and French bank

BNP Paribas BNP Paribas is a French international banking group, founded in 2000 from the merger between Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP, "National Bank of Paris") and Paribas, formerly known as the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. The full name of the grou ...

to direct and produce his first narrative short ''Imago''. This psychological thriller opened the

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in 2013. In 2013, while attending the University of California at Berkeley, he made a documentary about successful Arab leaders in the U.S. called ''"Arab Stories: Bay Area,"'' which aired on

. After working as a creative director for the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, working to make UC Berkeley's entrepreneurship education available online, Tazi moved to Los Angeles where he became the festival manager of the Arab Film Festival. He has been featured on the cover of Morocco's ''Challenge'' magazine. Tazi also worked on his first feature film '' Night Walk'' as director. The film had its World Premiere at the

Moscow International Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (russian: Моско́вский междунаро́дный кинофестива́ль, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is the film festival first h ...

in April 2019. Later that year, Tazi won the "Best Screenplay" award at the

Prague Independent Film Festival Prague Independent Film Festival (PIFF) is an international film festival held annually in August in Prague, the capital of Czech Republic. The festival focuses on independent cinema. Festival founder and director is Diana Ringo. History 2016 ...

. In a 2019 interview with

Piers Morgan Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan (; né O'Meara; born 30 March 1965) is a British broadcaster, journalist, writer, and television personality. He began his Fleet Street career in 1988 at '' The Sun''. In 1994, aged 29, he was appointed editor of the ...

on '' Good Morning Britain'',

Mickey Rourke Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. (; born September 16, 1952) is an American actor and former boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading man in drama, action, and thriller films. During the star of the 1980s, Rourke played supporting roles i ...

spoke of his experience working with Tazi, praising "the enthusiasm of this guy who was only 28" and added that “he wasn't terrified to work with me, he was just very excited to work with me."

Recognition

In 2013, Tazi was voted among "Top 50 Men of the Year 2013" by VH Magazine. Tazi was also featured on ''

''s 30 Under 30 in 2016 as a leading change-maker under the age of 30. In 2021,

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aired a 2-min segment on Tazi's work as a director challenging the stereotypes around the Arab and Muslim community in the West that played nationwide every hour for a day.

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

and

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

also included his film Night Walk in their "Movies to Stream this Week" list.

Filmography

Features

* ''Night Walk'' (2021)

Shorts

* ''Emilie'' (2011) * ''Imago'' (2013) * ''Arab Stories'' (2014) * ''The Passing'' (2014)

Music videos

* "Stop" by

Imad Kotbi Imad Kotbi ( ar, عماد قطبي) (born June 8, 1978) is a Moroccan radio presenter and a disk jockey. He was born in Casablanca, and is currently working for Casa FM radio station presenting a show called "Ze Kotbi Show". Kotbi is a Guinnes ...

featuring Ryan McTogy (2017) * "Love & Devotion" by

featuring Ryan McTogy (2017) * "African Queen" by

(2018) * "Daqqat Qelbi (My Heartbeat)" by Ghita Lahmamssi (2019)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tazi, Aziz Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Mass media people from Casablanca Moroccan film directors University of California, Berkeley alumni École Centrale Paris alumni