Possessed by the Jinn of Cinema: Filming Spirits in Morocco

The lila - the domestic trance rituals dedicated in Morocco to the spirits’ possession - are not public. Often it is forbidden to attend, and almost always it is forbidden to take photographs and to record video. This is because spirits do not allow it. The research relationship we developed with some musicians and other actors of these rites is strongly orientated to the presence of video cameras, whose use strongly influence our research method and quality. The way in which these officiants of the rites justify to themselves, to the others and to us the fact that we are allowed to film and record is by saying that we are possessed by the spirit of cinema: this makes us pleasing to the spirit world. This idea allows to negotiate the relationship between the observer and the observed in a specific way.