Aziz Tazi

Aziz Tazi is a Moroccan-born LA-based filmmaker featured in Forbes Africa's "30 Under 30" in 2016. He made his directorial debut with the feature film Night Walk, which was shot in five cities on two continents. The crime drama was recently acquired in a six-figure deal by Lionsgate, making it the first Moroccan film in history to get Hollywood distribution. Night Walk was released theatrically in several countries in June 2021. The film stars Golden Globe and BAFTA winner Mickey Rourke as well as Eric Roberts, Patrick Kilpatrick, Richard Tyson, and Louis Mandylor. It premiered at the Moscow International Film Festival and won the "Best Screenplay" and "Best Actor" awards at Prague Film Festival. Prior to Night Walk, Tazi's short film Imago opened the Arab Film Festival in 2013. His documentary Arab Stories aired on PBS in 2014. Tazi has also directed music videos for artists like French rap legend La Fouine. Recently, Spectrum News aired a 2-min segment on Tazi's work as a director, that played nationwide every hour for a day. Deadline, Variety, The Washington Post, and The Huffington Post have covered his work as well. Aziz Tazi's dreams of becoming a filmmaker were first seeded when he was a child making video game films in Casablanca, Morocco. The videos went viral and some were awarded "Best Visual Effects" and "Most Innovative" by a popular gaming website after he turned 15. In 2012, Aziz received funding from his engineering school in Paris and French bank BNP Paribas to direct and produce Imago. This psychological thriller about paranoia and madness was screened at international film festivals and opened the Arab Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2013. Pursuing his studies at UC Berkeley, Aziz made a documentary about successful Arab leaders in the U.S. called "Arab Stories: Bay Area," which aired on PBS. After a year of working as a creative director for the Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology, spearheading an effort to make UC Berkeley's entrepreneurship education available to everyone online, he moved to L.A. where he became the festival manager of the Arab Film Festival. That's where he shot his first feature film "Night Walk" with a cast including the likes of Golden Globe and BAFTA winner Mickey Rourke, Oscar-nominee Eric Roberts, Patrick Kilpatrick, Richard Tyson, and Louis Mandylor. Aziz made the cover of Morocco's highly-acclaimed "Challenge" magazine and was voted "Top 50 Men of the Year 2013" by VH Magazine, next to prominent Moroccan politicians and businessmen. He was also featured on Forbes Africa's "30 Under 30" in 2016 as a leading change-maker under 30 years old.