Films and books
Films
So impressive is the scenery that film director Martin Scorsese chose Imlil as one of the locations for Kundun, his film about the Dalai Lama, temporarily transforming the Kasbah into a Tibetan monastery.
Martin Scorsese, the film director, made a film in Morocco about the early life of the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama was forced to flee Tibet for India when the Chinese occupied Tibet. This film became the centre of a major issue between China, who wanted the film to be cancelled, and Disney, who decided to distribute the film. The Chinese threatened to refuse Disney permission to open a Disneyland park near Shanghai. Ultimately the President of Disney resigned but the film continued.
What has this to do with Imlil? Well, in November 1996 the Kasbah was temporarily transformed into the Tibetan Monastery of Dungkar, to which the Dalai Lama fled from Lhasa in Tibet. Filming was based at the studios in Ouarzazate, but moved to Imlil for 5 weeks of set preparation and a few days shooting using Tibetan actors, extras and film crew. The Kasbah was clad with stonework, prayer wheels, wooden doors and Tibetan domes! 100 Tibetans, 45 horses and 2 yaks transformed the valley. Local villagers were employed during the quiet winter period to meet the 33 4x4 vehicles, 10 lorries and all sorts of film making equipment which had to be transported up to the Kasbah.
Our capable host, Omar, was a key coordinator between the village and the location crew. Snow was made from Epsom salts and the weather for the days of filming last December was all that the art directors had wished for – with a respectable amount of snow on the backdrop of mountains. The Tibetan actors and extras were flown to Morocco from Nepal, India and even New York. Local Village Involvement: Part of the location fee has been given to the Imlil Village Association, a NGO to use the development jargon, which should enable the villages represented to work with outside agencies in an officially recognised format.
- View movie still of the monastery and surrounding area
- View movie still of the Kasbah as the monastery
- View movie still of Tibetan horn and Toubkal
Books
Extracts from Steve Carter’s & Jeremy Kourdi’s “The Road to Audacity” ISBN 1-4039-0617-3
The impulse for this book came in a small room in a tower on the roof of a Kasbah.
I was staying there as a result of a determination to do something totally different to create a more liberating approach to the way organizations regenerate themselves. I was seeking new ideas and places that would stimulate radical and innovative thinking: a place where people could think through what to achieve and let go of tired assumptions and prejudices.
What was it that makes some people and some organizations able to respond audaciously, and others not?
And then I began to find out about the Kasbah…
The Kasbah is a place that inspires people not just for where it is, but also for its story and what it stands for…
From the start, the vision was to develop something upon sustainable principles that would benefit both visitors and local inhabitants. It was to be both a successful business and an experiment in social entrepreneurship. The vision for this place I find astonishing in its motivational richness. It is quoted verbatim…
The result is a place to stay that feels unique for the traveler. The Kasbah is not a conventional hotel, and the accommodation is a mixture of traditional Berber salons and elegant cool rooms, with furniture and other objects reflecting local ideas and crafts. The food and hospitality are authentically Berber and local traditions and etiquette are maintained. It has become a place not just for the wanderer going on up into the High Atlas Mountains but a place to stop, let go and think. The roof of the Kasbah on which you can sleep provides an environment of almost indescribable tranquility. All this on its own would make the Kasbah remarkable. But the Kasbah is more than an unusual and exotic place to stay, and its commitments to the local community goes beyond providing work for the local artisans…
The Kasbah is audacious. Its audacity is not born out of huge resources of a large corporation but because it works at so many different motivational levels. To go there is to see all eight of Michael Apter’s “eight ways of being” expressed in tangible, positive ways. Perhaps the mixture of the McHugo’s different worlds enables the Kasbah to remain commercially viable and increasingly successful. It is interesting as this book closes to compare it with The Eden Project: both seem to thrive because they have willfully defied conventional thinking, while retaining a sound business approach. At the heart of both ventures are values that address fundamental aspects of ourselves. They are richly appealing.
“The Road to Audacity” is essentially about rediscovering what it means for work to be based upon what it is to be human, and to make sure that our organizations address and create the conditions in which all aspects of peoples personality can flourish. The focus of this is not about social responsibility but about motivational connection.
Motivationally what we value will change as we move between the states. The mystery of the Kasbah means that which ever motivational state you are in, you can see its intrinsic value being met in special and more profound way. These places are very effective at nourishing, inspiring and appealing to the forces—the eight ways of being—that motivate us and affect our behaviour.
Download Chapter 11 from “The Road to Audacity” in PDF format
