13 Netflix TV Shows and Movies Filmed in Morocco (2020)

1. Morocco: Love in Times of War (Tiempos de Guerra)

Historical drama chronicling the adventures and romantic entanglements of upper-class Spanish volunteer nurses in war-torn Spanish Morocco in the 1920s. Enjoyable but soapy.

Disclaimer: While the series is set in the tiny Spanish enclave of Melilla on Morocco’s northern coast, it was actually filmed in Spain’s Canary Islands.

2. The Old Guard

Charlize Theron stars in this Netflix Original adaptation of the Greg Rucka graphic novel. Four undying warriors who’ve secretly protected humanity for centuries become targeted for their mysterious powers just as they discover a new immortal.

Many scenes take place in and around Marrakech. Morocco also stands in for Somalia and Kenya in the film.

3. Close

This female-driven thriller shot in Morocco and the UK stars Noomi Rapace of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as a lone security expert who must protect an heiress from highly trained kidnappers while trying to stay alive.

4. Babel

This international co-production stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett as an American couple vacationing in Morocco who fall victim to a random act of violence, triggering a series of events across four countries.

Directed by Mexico’s Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros).

5. The Spy

Intense espionage series about Israeli clerk-turned-secret agent Eli Cohen, who goes undercover inside Syria on a perilous mission to spy for Mossad. Cohen is portrayed by British actor Sacha Baron Cohen, known for his role as “Borat.”

Filming took place in several different locations of the Kingdom of Morocco, including Rabat, Sale, Kenitra, and Fez.

6. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

7. La Reina del Sur

This addictive edge-of-your-seat telenovela, an adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name by Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte, chronicles the rise to power of a young Mexican woman who becomes the most powerful drug trafficker in southern Spain.

Beautiful filming locations on the Moroccan coast and in Mexico, Spain, and Colombia.

8. Much Loved

Heartfelt French-Moroccan drama about four female sex workers in Marrakech dealing with the dangers and stigma that come with their profession.

The film’s themes of prostitution, extramarital sex, and homosexuality caused a scandal in Morocco, and it was banned.

The controversy resulted in death threats to the cast. Lead actress Loubna Abidar had to flee the country after being violently attacked. The censorship backfired, however, bringing the film worldwide attention.

9. Cooked

This enlightening docu-series based on the best-selling book by food writer Michael Pollan explores how cooking transforms food and shapes our world.

About half of Season 1, Episode 3 is filmed in Morocco, starting with a lovely scene of a mother explaining the ancient traditions of baking to her son.

The viewer is then transported to a Moroccan communal bakery, a wheat farm, and a traditional water-powered stone mill to learn about the sacred art of bread making. You’ll never view bread the same way again.

10. Cannabis

When a boatload of cannabis belonging to Moroccan drug lord El Feo is hijacked, the robbery has repercussions stretching across three countries.

Entertaining and suspenseful series about the Mediterranean hashish trade set in Morocco, Spain, and France.

11. 4L

Feel-good Spanish road movie set in Africa.

Hoping to reunite with a dying friend, two longtime pals re-create their desert road trip from Spain to Timbuktu, bringing along his estranged daughter.

They drive there in an ancient Renault 4L, passing through stunning Saharan landscapes between Morocco and Mali.

12. Narcoworld: Dope Stories

Episode 2 of this rather sensational crime docuseries follows the flow of smuggled hash as criminals transport it from Morocco, across the Strait of Gibraltar, up the coast of Spain and into France.

13. Adú

^{No English subtitles available for YouTube trailer – click to watch trailer on Netflix}

If you liked Babel, try these three interlocking tales set in North Africa starring veteran Spanish actor Luis Tosar.

In a desperate attempt to reach Europe, six-year-old Adú and his older sister in Cameroon try to sneak into an aircraft hold. Not far away, an environmental activist witnesses the terrible scene of an elephant killed by poachers.

Meanwhile, in Spanish Morocco, a group of civil guards faces a furious mob of African immigrants trying to cross the border fence in Melilla.

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan

Much of this suspenseful spy thriller‘s first season was filmed in Morocco. Marrakech and the surrounding area stands in for six Middle Eastern countries: Yemen, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Syria. Shooting took place in Marrakech, Tensift El Haouz, Essaouira, El Jadida, and Chichaoua.

When CIA analyst Jack Ryan stumbles upon a suspicious series of bank transfers, his search for answers pulls him from the safety of his desk job. He’s catapulted into a deadly game of cat and mouse with a rising terrorist figurehead preparing for a massive attack against the US and her allies.

Crossing Borders

Inspiring documentary that follows four Moroccan and four American university students as they travel together through Morocco. In the process of discovering “The Other,” they discover themselves.

Catch The Wind

Update: Now available for rental rather than free to Prime members.

Edith, a 45-year-old French textile factory worker, sees her life turned upside down by the company’s downsizing measures.

Estranged from her son and without any other ties, rather than go into unemployment, she decides to leave her life in France behind and relocate to the factory in Tangier.

Razzia

In this mesmerizing drama set in Casablanca, five Moroccans from different social and religious strata are pushed to the fringe by their extremist government.

Spanning three decades and several storylines, director Nabil Ayouch weaves an intricate tale of lost loves, forbidden desires, and fragile dreams in modern-day Morocco.

Moroccan entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2018 Academy Awards.

Morocco: Quest for the Kasbah

The journey begins in Marrakesh, dips down to Essaouria, travels over the Atlas Mountains, and to the desert on the eastern border, then goes north to Fès, Tangier, Rabat, and Casablanca.

Hideous Kinky

Disenchanted with the dreary conventions of English life, 25-year-old Julia (Kate Winslet) heads for Morocco with her children, six-year-old Lucy and precocious eight-year-old Bea.

After the girls match their mother with gentle Moroccan acrobat and con man Bilal, sexual gears are set in motion, and he moves in, serving as a surrogate father.

The Child of the Sahara

After the death of his parents, a French teenager learns he is actually adopted. His real mother and father are the Moroccan couple he had believed were his aunt and uncle.

He decides to join them at their home on the edge of the Sahara, but isolation, culture shock, and a jealous little brother soon lead him to question whether he’s made the right choice.

Beautiful cinematography of the desert Moroccan landscape.

Adios Carmen

Sweet and engaging film set in a gossip-prone Moroccan village in the summer of 1975. An abandoned boy develops a life-changing bond with Carmen, the Spanish woman working at the local cinema.

Official selection of the prestigious Global Lens Collection.

Life is Waiting

Forty years after its people were promised freedom by departing Spanish rulers, Western Sahara remains Africa’s last colony.

This sobering documentary chronicles the everyday violence experienced by Sahrawis living under Moroccan occupation and voices the aspirations of a desert people for whom colonialism never ended.

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