Aziz Tazi
Aziz Tazi is a Moroccan film writer, director and producer featured in "Forbes Africa"s 30 Under 30. Tazi made his directorial debut with the feature film "Night Walk". The crime drama was acquired by Lionsgate and is the first Moroccan film in history to get Hollywood distribution. Prior to "Night Walk", Tazi's short film "Imago" opened the Arab Film Festival in 2013. His documentary "Arab Stories" aired on PBS in 2014. Tazi has also directed music videos for French rapper La Fouine. Variety and The Huffington Post have covered his work as well. Early life. Aziz Tazi  grew up in Casablanca, Morocco. At 14, he used Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects, along with 3D Studio Max to create 15-min short videos based on the game Counter-Strike. The videos went viral and some were awarded "Best Visual Effects" and "Most Innovative" by a gaming website after he turned 15. At age 17, Tazi moved to France and worked with Denis Freyd on "" directed by . Eventually, Tazi settled in California after graduating with two Masters of Science from Ecole Centrale Paris and UC Berkeley. Career. In 2011, Tazi directed a documentary short called ""Emilie"" about  France's first-ever female Olympic champion in gymnastics Emilie Le Pennec. The short won the "Orange Reporter" Award for Highest Achievement in Creativity. In 2012, he received funding from his engineering school Ecole Centrale Paris and French bank BNP Paribas to direct and produce his first narrative short "Imago". This psychological thriller opened the Arab Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2013. In 2013, while attending the University of California at Berkeley, he made a documentary about successful Arab leaders in the U.S. called ""Arab Stories: Bay Area,"" which aired on PBS. After working as a creative director for  the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, working to make UC Berkeley's entrepreneurship education available online, Tazi moved to Los Angeles where he became the festival manager of the Arab Film Festival. He has been featured on the cover of Morocco's "Challenge" magazine. Tazi also worked on his first feature film "Night Walk" as director. The film had its World Premiere at the Moscow International Film Festival in April 2019. Later that year, Tazi won the "Best Screenplay" award at the Prague Independent Film Festival. In a 2019 interview with Piers Morgan on "Good Morning Britain", Mickey Rourke spoke  of his experience working with Tazi, praising "the enthusiasm of this guy who was only 28" and added that “he wasn't terrified to work with me, he was just very excited to work with me." Recognition. In 2013, Tazi was voted among "Top 50 Men of the Year 2013" by VH Magazine. Tazi was also featured on "Forbes Africa"s 30 Under 30 in 2016 as a leading change-maker under the age of 30. In 2021, Spectrum News aired a 2-min segment on Tazi's work as a director challenging the stereotypes around the Arab and Muslim community  in the West that played nationwide every hour for a day. The Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly also included his film Night Walk in their "Movies to Stream this Week" list.