La Nuit de la Possession—La Lila de Derdeba, Frank Cassenti, France 2011, 83', with French subtitles

Frank Cassenti’s film is the most comprehensive documentation to date of a lila, the most important Gnawa ceremony.  Shot in Essaouira in the family home of Maalem Mahmoud Guinea and his wife, Mqaddma Malika, the film shows the preparations and the unfolding of the ceremony: from the animal sacrifice, via the secular part with its dances, to the invocation of the mluk and the trance that lasts until sunrise, accompanied by the sounds of the drums and the guembri.