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On Friday, 26 June 2026, Morocco's Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, launched construction work for the Cité internationale du cinéma / المدينة الدولية للإنتاج السينمائي in Ouarzazate.
The announcement was made by MAP, Morocco's state news agency.
The project is designed to address a longstanding gap in Ouarzazate's screen-production economy. Foreign productions often shoot in the city, then leave Morocco to complete post-production elsewhere. The new complex is intended to keep more of that work in Morocco and increase local spending on lodging, transport, catering, and technical services.
It's planned on a 10.49-hectare site, with a total investment reported at MAD 240 million (around USD 26 million), and is designed as a one-stop production complex for film professionals, bringing together production services, post-production, preservation, training, innovation and creative technologies, hospitality, services, and film tourism.
The launch was part of a wider visit to Ouarzazate's culture and heritage sites. Minister Bensaid also inspected restoration work at the Kasbah of Taourirt and the Ksar of Aït Ben Haddou, the fortified village near Ouarzazate that has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.