Cinema: One Law, Four Decrees, and International Ambitions

A new milestone in the Kingdom’s cinematic history! On September 1, Law No. 18.23 came into effect, concerning the film industry and the reorganization of the Moroccan Cinematographic Center (CCM).

Enacted in late 2024 by Dahir No. 1.24.67, this reform sweeps away a legal framework dating back to 1999, whose limitations had become glaring in the face of the sector’s evolution.

“Cinema could no longer make do with a makeshift system built around Law 20.99,” acknowledges a professional. Today, Morocco aims to equip itself with a modern arsenal, designed to attract international shoots, stimulate national production, and protect professions.

The CCM emphasizes that this new legislation pursues several objectives: strengthen Morocco’s appeal for national and foreign investments, in a context where the Kingdom is establishing itself as a global film setting (from Gladiator to Mission Impossible), create new job opportunities, particularly for technicians, screenwriters, and actors in the sector, ensure good governance of public services, and establish clear competition rules in the film market, previously hindered by opaque circuits.

The stated ambition is also cultural and diplomatic: give Moroccan cinema greater prominence, both domestically and internationally, by implementing a more competitive and distinctive economic model.

Intense Consultation

Before landing in the Official Bulletin, the text of Law No. 18.23 was extensively discussed. In early 2025, the Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication organized a cycle of consultations with sector stakeholders.

Between January 29 and February 4, six meetings brought together the fields of production, distribution, exhibition, festivals, technical industries and technicians, as well as two sessions with representatives of professions and animation film creators.

These exchanges informed the development of regulatory texts, with the goal of aligning with the evolution of the film sector, in Morocco and elsewhere. But some professionals point out blind spots.

For Zhor Fassi Fihri, a Moroccan producer and director, the reform remains promising but perfectible. “Unfortunately, I attended only one meeting, where I shared certain information they were unaware of, such as the fact that the Moroccan Exchange Office has nothing specific regarding cinema.

As a Moroccan producer who brings in international actors, there is no ‘actor’ status in their classification, for example, which complicates their payment, or that of screenwriters. There are also many Moroccans abroad, etc.

I think it’s very good to have worked on this, but there are still points that have not been developed, and I won’t hide from you that several aspects are not very clear. But the decree is based only on points where progress was needed,” she confides.

Although the text of Law No. 18.23 was enriched by these on-the-ground contributions, meant to address real challenges (from funding to exhibition visas), certain areas of uncertainty persist, leaving professionals to adapt to these new frameworks still under construction.

Unprecedented Regulatory Arsenal

To give substance to Law 18.23, the government published, in the Official Bulletin of August 21, 2025, a series of implementing decrees that outline the new regulatory framework. These long-awaited texts aim to translate into reality the ambition of a more structured, transparent, and better-equipped sector to meet international standards.

The first of these texts, Decree No. 2.25.365 adopted on June 12, 2025, had paved the way by setting a general framework for the application of the law. It serves as a kind of preamble, preparing the ground for the more specific measures that would follow.

In this logic, Decree No. 2.25.482, dated August 1, 2025, introduces a national cinema registry. Henceforth, any contract related to production, particularly those concerning screenplays, must be registered within thirty days of signing.

Fully digitized, the procedure provides for the issuance of a deposit certificate within a maximum of seven days. This measure, presented as a tool for legal security, aims to protect copyright while ensuring better traceability of projects.

The reform does not stop there. Decree No. 2.25.483, adopted the same day, tackles the issue of film production. It mandates the online submission of license applications, accompanied by required administrative and fiscal documents, and strictly regulates the granting of filming and location scouting authorizations.

To not hinder the creative momentum of the young, a special regime is nevertheless provided for pedagogical films made in universities and specialized schools.

In parallel, Decree No. 2.25.484 redesigns the distribution landscape. It sets the rules for the import and export of films, as well as for the commercial and cultural exploitation of works.

A viewing commission is established to classify films according to age categories (-12, -16, -18, or all audiences), a measure long awaited by professionals and families.

The conditions for operating cinema theaters are also clarified: henceforth, any non-cinematographic use must be reported, ensuring greater transparency in the management of these spaces.

Finally, Decree No. 2.25.485, also published on August 1, focuses on sector professions. It introduces the cinema professional card and creates the concept of a “studio label,” intended to distinguish infrastructures meeting specifications aligned with international standards.

One of the key provisions of this text is the obligation for studios to recruit a minimum quota of Moroccan technicians and trainees, to guarantee the training and integration of local skills. These new obligations will be monitored and supervised by an advisory commission chaired by the director of the CCM.

Producer Khadija Alami, founder of K Films, welcomes these practical advances, emphasizing that the digitization of procedures “will allow better access to the administration and save us trips to Rabat to file at the CCM’s records office.”

According to her, this reform also reassures foreign productions by showing a “regulated, structured, and organized” framework, while offering national projects the possibility to upgrade, regardless of their budget.

However, she calls for more flexibility regarding the cinema professional card: “There should be more flexibility, with cards issued to all film school students upon obtaining their diploma.”

“A major step forward”

For Mohamed Khouna, founder of Film Event Consulting and president of the Commission for Aid to Digitization and Cinema Creation, this reform constitutes “a major step forward for the entire sector, from director to producer, through distribution and exhibition.”

He recalls that previous texts, “dating from 1977, had only been revised through simple circulars” and that, in a context where the Kingdom now holds an important place on the international scene, “it became urgent to adapt our legal framework to current requirements.”

According to him, “all concerned sectors (filming authorization, production, distribution, exhibition) were subject to broad consultation.” The adopted text, he explains, “not only reflects our ambitions but also aims to simplify and energize the activity of professionals.”

Among the key measures, he cites “the separation between distribution and exhibition,” essential to clarify “two different but complementary activities” and ensure a more effective organization of the sector.

Finally, Khouna believes that these new decrees will durably strengthen the confidence of stakeholders: “Thanks to the support of the Moroccan Cinematographic Center (CCM) and its director, Reda Benjelloun, all players will be able to comply and participate in this new dynamic that promises to be promising for national cinema.”

A supervised transition

The new legislation repeals Law No. 20.99 and other prior texts governing the CCM and the film industry.

But a transition period is provided to avoid any disruption: already issued filming authorizations remain valid until their scheduled term, production, distribution companies, and theater operators have a one-year period to comply with the new rules, until August 31, 2026, holders of a professional card issued under the old law have until August 31, 2030, to regularize their situation.

The public support system for production, modernization and creation of theaters, as well as festivals, remains unchanged for the time being.

Although the CCM insists on its role as a public institution serving the industry and promises to make available its administrative and human resources to support this transition, it calls on the professional film organizations, those very ones that contributed to the genesis of the text, to actively support the implementation of the law.

By aligning its legal framework with international standards, Morocco hopes to transform its film industry into a full-fledged economic and cultural lever. For the CCM, the entry into force of Law 18.23 should combine attractiveness for foreign productions, support for national creation, and consolidation of the role of cinema as a tool for international influence.

As summarized by a filmmaker contacted: “You don’t build a film industry only with foreign blockbusters. But without them, you won’t build anything either.”

Transparency and quality: Two new tools for the sector

Moroccan cinema is equipping itself with two unprecedented tools. First, a national digital registry of contracts, where screenplays and co-production agreements must now be declared.

A small administrative revolution intended to protect authors’ rights and strengthen transparency in the production chain.

Second, the “studio label,” inspired by foreign “Film Commissions,” which will distinguish infrastructures meeting demanding specifications: technical equipment, environmental respect, integration of local technicians, working conditions.

This label intends to become a true mark of quality to attract more international productions.