Ali Essafi (1963-) is a Moroccan filmmaker. He studied Psychology in France. His directorial debut titled General, Here We Come! (Général, nous voilà!, 1997), a documentary about Moroccan veterans in the French army, was awarded the Special Jury Award at the Namur Film Festival. Essafi is one of Morocco’s most prolific and awarded documentary filmmakers. His films include The Silence of the Beet Fields (Le Silence des champs de betteraves, 1998) and Ouarzazate the Movie (2001) to cite a couple of titles. He moved back to Morocco in 2002 and worked as an advisor to the Moroccan public television channel for three years. He now lives and works between Morocco and Brazil.