Fez - Minister of Communication, Mustafa El Khalfi, tweeted that he "welcomes the commitment of the Director of the Moroccan Cinematographic Centre (CCM) to respect the law" and that "the decision taken by the Commission does not breech the freedom of artistic creation guaranteed by the Constitution."
Je soutiens la décision prise au sujet du film #Exodus et je salue l’attachement du Directeur du CCM au respect la loi 1/5
— Mustapha Khalfi (@mustapha_khalfi) December 30, 2014
Censorship of Exodus has seen many twists and turns since its anticipated release date of December 24 in several cinemas in Morocco. On December 30, the Minister of Communication posted a tweet on his twitter account saying that “the reviewing Commission decided to refuse the screening of the film n Moroccan movie theaters.
Le refus de visa d’exploitation a été décidé par la Commission de visionnage en vertu de l’art. 8 de la loi sur la cinématographie 2/5
— Mustapha Khalfi (@mustapha_khalfi) December 30, 2014
Minister El Khalfi said he supported the decision banning the film because it portrays God. However, God is not shown explicitly at any stage in Exodus. The portrayal of God is only an interpretation of the scene in which a child delivers messages to Moses.
La décision prise à l’unanimité par la commission a été motivée par le fait que le film comprend une scène qui représente Dieu 3/5
— Mustapha Khalfi (@mustapha_khalfi) December 30, 2014
CCM clarified through its director Sarim Fassi Fihri that the decision was not made to satisfy certain parties, but to avoid problems that have occurred in other countries where films depicting god were screened.
Sarim added that the film approval Commission, the Ministry of Culture, the owners of cinemas and film distributors, and the Cinematographic Center, had all seen the film and had reservations about a scene which depicts God as a child during the period of revelation to the prophet Moses.
The Minister added that "the decision taken by the Commission does not breach the freedom of artistic creation which is guaranteed by the Constitution."