Cinema Rif | Tangier
CHILDREN OF PARADOX
Tangier. Where Africa peeks at Europe. Home to a historical cast of degenerates who left yonder shores to submerge their lusts in the forbidden fruits of distant lands. Where floorboards were crept by legendary writers, and cafes bloomed with intoxicating creativity and prose.
And at the heart of all these hash dreams colliding? Cinema Rif.
Parked above the Grand Socco where pigeons battle for scraps, the famous square has felt history march above its foundations. Built in 1930, Rif has seen its incarnations, from plush velvet seats built for sensitive diplomat bottoms, to smugglers fidgeting out deals, and the occasional aristocrat with bent intentions splayed out in the cheap section.
Cinema Rif has seen it all, and managed to reinvent itself over time, to never lose the essence of what it was, but not revert to nostalgia and sad remembrance.
This isn’t just a movie house. It’s a time machine. A reminder that in Tangier, the past never really leaves, it stains the walls like nicotene, it wafts beyond in perfumed billows, awakening a tristesse so sad its beautiful.
For those allergic to art and culture, there is a cafe built for modern times, serving strong coffee and other concoctions. But true disciples of celluloid will flock for the latest releases, and quiver in wonder at the screenings of old classics. This is a temple to the past, but it happily hums along to modern day Moroccan life.
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