“Almost everyone who holds the title Mocros hears, asks if it is about ‘criminals’. Gray crime journalists have been capitalizing on stigmatizing Moroccan Dutch people for years. Our title is against gas; we decide who we are.”
Thus the proud statement of Shariff Nasr and Sahil Amar Aïssa Mocrostheir comedy series for BNNVARA that is “guaranteed mafia-free”. They made a series about young people of Moroccan descent, in which origin and crime are not central. Mocros is about Souf (Amar Aïssa), a young man who is officially studying to become an aviation technician, but is secretly working on an acting career. For the screenplay, the makers were able to draw extensively on their own experiences in the film world.
How did the series come about?
Sahil Amar Aïssa: “Eight years ago I co-wrote Shariff’s film El Houb and I remember we had a chip break at two in the morning. I told him I had a series like Eyeballs, Dad’s Day or Thirtysomethings wanted to make; a light comedy drama about normal people who also happen to be bicultural Dutch.”
Shariff Nasr: “After that, the idea has always lived on. Every time we were somewhere and something happened, we said: we should also write this down.”
In the first episode, Souf auditions for a role and enters a waiting room with all the same boys wearing the same hats. Is that an example taken from life?
Amar Aïssa: “One hundred percent. At every audition I always met the same five guys; one of the reasons why we decided Mocros to make. I have had roles as a Syria traveler, a purse snatcher, a boy on a scooter who swears at someone, and a street dealer who is blackmailed in Penoza.”
Nasr: “Sahil is not exaggerating. I have been approached at least seven times for films in which an attack was committed. And when I said something about it, they said that the attacker would get a deeper layer.”
Assïa: “I went to auditions with the feeling: I don’t actually want this. I thought: we’re just going to make it ourselves. Don’t be dependent on a system that doesn’t serve you. That sounds angry, but I’m not. It’s more the realization that it is best to make a series about our experience ourselves.”
I have been approached at least seven times for films in which an attack was committed
Is this due to a lack of diverse makers in the Netherlands?
Nasr: “The biggest problem is that there are too few diverse people in high positions. Many great plans have been canceled for that reason. For example, I worked on a project about a problem school in which you experienced why someone was difficult or had difficulty learning, and then you saw what was going on at home. People thought that was too niche. While the news is constantly talking about it. They said: ‘Can’t there be more crime?'”
Why are series with Moroccan characters always about crime?
Amar Aïssa: “Mocro Mafia was such an incredible success that the series has since been imitated endlessly. As a result, there was no room for these kinds of other things.”
Nasr: “In high positions there is little interest in the target group. The main thought is: ‘Look, this is apparently what they want’. But you have to dare to take risks. That used to be much more common, back then you sometimes had crazy TV.”
Amar Aïssa: “And you know, we are also allowed to fail. I am in a constant battle against it imposter syndrome. Also because I don’t look like the other series makers in the Netherlands. I sometimes catch myself being extra hard on myself and thinking that this has to be a success.”
Scene from ‘Mocros’, with Sahil Amar Aïssa in the middle as the main character Souf.
Photo BNNVARA
Do you feel that pressure? Should this be as successful as ‘Mocro Mafia’?
Amar Aïssa: “If this is a success, we will have the freedom to do more things. But if it doesn’t work out, it could set us back six years.”
Nasr: “I also hope that the series can open a door for other makers. That people no longer see it as a niche. Do you know what a niche is? Feutena series about the hazing of frat boys. That is a very small percentage of the population, but everyone enjoyed watching.”
Is it difficult to sell a series that isn’t about crime?
Aïssa: “I don’t know about the streamers, but at the NPO we really had to prove that people want to watch this.”
Nasr: “It was a bumpy road. Or to quote Mo from our series: ‘There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs.’ But that has made the series better. For example, we went from twelve episodes back to eight, so the series now has an enormous pace.”
If you make a series about the most hated population group in the Netherlands, you feel a responsibility to do it well.
There are now several series about non-white characters trying to make it in the white entertainment industry, such as ‘Bait’ and ‘Dreaming While Black’. Is that the new trend after all the crime series?
Amar Aïssa: “That would be a step forward. It makes sense: because the entertainment world was so focused on the underworld and the stigmas, you got frustrated makers like Shariff and I who then started making series about their own struggles in the film world.”
It sounds like you are very aware of the opportunity you have.
Amar Aïssa: ‘If you make a series about the most hated population group in the Netherlands, you feel a responsibility to do it well. This is the last series I will make about this file. Of course, I will continue to make series and films with bicultural people afterwards, but I no longer need to discuss living between multiple worlds.”
Nasr: “If politicians and the media would do their job more, we would not have to try so hard to ensure that our community is more embraced. Then we would make very different films.”
