12 Netflix TV Shows and Movies Filmed in Morocco (February 2019)

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

Click the photo to watch the trailer on Netflix

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. 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 striving to stay alive.

3. Babel

This international co-production directed by Mexico’s Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros) follows an American couple vacationing in Morocco who falls victim to a random act of violence, triggering a series of events across four countries.

4. 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.

5. 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, and lead actress Loubna Abidar had to flee the country after being violently attacked. The censorship backfired, however, bringing the film worldwide attention.

6. Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown

In Season 1, Episode 6, Bourdain channels his hero William S. Burroughs in Tangier, Morocco, where he drinks mint tea, explores the souk, and discovers the strange and the colorful.

RIP to someone who inspired so many with his curiosity, empathy, and humility. 🙁

7. Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby

Episode 4 of this fascinating BBC Two series takes us behind the scenes of the stunning Royal Mansour hotel in Marrakech, built with a limitless budget at the command of Morocco’s king. Guest quarters consist of a complex of luxurious riads serviced by private butlers who appear as if by magic from the hotel’s labyrinth of underground tunnels. The show hosts also take interesting side trips outside the hotel walls.

8. 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.

9. Cannabis

Tap to watch trailer on Netflix

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.

10. Scam City

Season 1, Episode 2 of this rather sensationalist investigative show visits Marrakech to expose common scams perpetuated on unsuspecting tourists.

11. Ainsley Eats the Streets

In episode 8 of this show focused on street food, celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott arrives in Fes just before the festival of Eid to explore Moroccan cuisine beyond couscous and tagines.

12. Departures

Full disclosure: Despite its gorgeous cinematography, this show about three Canadian bros partying their way around the world isn’t really my cup of tea. However, it’s worth checking out Season 2, Episode 1 to follow their adventures from southern Spain to Essaouira, Fez, and the Atlas Mountains.

Crossing Borders

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

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

Join Richard Bangs, known as the father of modern adventure travel, as he seeks a new meaning for the Kasbah in a country where men from all nations have sought refuge through the ages.

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.

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 the era of colonialist never ended.

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 and that 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.

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