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Inspired by American fiction writer Paul Bowles’ book of the same title, a group of American artists travel to Morocco to retrace some of Bowles’ paths and interests, focusing on Morocco’s traditional Berber musical culture, fifty years on from Bowles’ experiences. Anchored in the percussive rhythms of Berber music, Williams’ documentary offers an update on the communities Bowles first recorded in 1959. A combination of smartphone snapshots, still photographs, archival material, and handheld camerawork, A Hundred Camels in the Courtyard feels like a cinematic collage — a film in constant flux responding to the shapeshifting spirit of the journey on-screen and the music that accompanies it. “Using photography, handheld cameras and collaged archival material was very much our language at the time, but it lent itself perfectly as a form for this film. We captured as much as we could with each group, so when it came to the edit it felt like an interpretation of the experience. When the pictures are cut with pace, they are cut in response to the music, in essence the music drives everything and the images hope to keep up.” TEGEN WILLIAMS Central to Williams’ travels across Morocco is a map Bowles left behind detailing his own expeditions across the region. This map, featured early in the film, guided Williams and company through the Moroccan desert. Across their travels, they come across numerous dancers, musicians, and festivities that reflect the country’s diverse culture — as seen in the film, this includes traveling Ahaidous music troupes, as well as legendary gnawa guembri players, and many more artistic enclaves. Williams’ cinematic bricolage not only reflects the protean nature of the group’s travels, but the multi-faceted dimension of the territory depicted.
