He graduated from directing studies in 1972 with the feature film GDZIEŚ PEWNEGO DNIA. The documentary film LUDZIE Z PIWNICY, about the artistic bohemia of the 1960s, starred, among others, Barbara Brylska.

In April 2024, Mostafa visited his alma mater for the last time. Then, he visited the school archives to view film reels of his short films.

In 2021, the book "Hope Is of a Different Color: From the Global South to the Łódź Film School" edited by Magda Lipska and Monika Talarczyk was published, in which you can read, among other things, about Derkaoui's experiences in Poland.

The director was the inspiration for the documentary MIX by our student Klaudia Szott, who mentioned the director on social media:

"I knew I wanted to make a found footage film from the student films made in Łódź by filmmakers who came here from the Global South during the Cold War. I met Aleksandra Marszałek, whose knowledge and love of Moroccan Cinema opened another door for me. Through her, I learned more about Mostafa and Karim Derkaoui, who came to Łódź in the 1960s. (…)

I also remember Mostafa entering the old rector’s office at the Łódź Film School, and the joy on his face. For a moment, the history of the school became physical to me – a line of filmmakers who had passed through those roomsbefore us and left something behind.

A reminder, too, that this history was never only Polish.

Polish Cinema should remember how many beautiful and radical things it once made possible".

Mostafa Derkaoui's student films are available in the digital archive of the Lodz Film School.

We extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones.

Photos: Lodz Film School archives