Hafid Aboulahyane

Aboulahyane grew up in Les Ulis (Essonne) in a working-class family; according to a 2006 profile he is the son of a Renault factory worker and was raised in the housing estate known as the Bosquet. A theatre teacher noticed him at about age 13 during an improvisation match, an event that set him on a path toward acting. He completed secondary studies in Paris and worked odd jobs in his late teens and early twenties (including selling apartments and cars) before beginning a professional career in performance.^[1]

Aboulahyane's early professional break came after he was seen on stage by an agent and was cast in television (the Navarro series is mentioned in contemporaneous press). He subsequently pursued stage and screen work while moving into writing and producing his own short films. He wrote and starred in a short, Le Poids du silence, in which the veteran actor Jacques Weber appears as the lawyer of Aboulahyane's character; Weber reportedly donated several days of his time to the production.^[1]

To gain creative control of his projects and finance his films, Aboulahyane founded the production company Hafidgood, investing his personal savings into the company. He has described running an independent production company as “a daily struggle.”^[1]

Aboulahyane wrote, produced and directed several short films that were noted in the French independent film press. Le Forum (2007), a short addressing civic participation and voter registration, received coverage in the French film and culture press.^[2]

His film La Marche des crabes (France / Morocco) was shown in short-film programs and was the subject of critical commentary at film festivals. A review of short-film competition screenings at FESPACO 2011 discussed La Marche des crabes alongside other contemporary shorts and highlighted both strengths and weaknesses in Aboulahyane's film-making.^[3]