Ahmed El Maanouni (born in 25 November 1944 in Casablanca) is a Moroccan film director, cinematographer, screenwriter, and film producer. He has directed a number of films that have become landmarks in the history of Moroccan cinema, his film "oh the days!" (1978) is the first Moroccan film to be selected in Cannes Film Festival and winner of the Grand Prize at the Mannheim Film Festival, He caught international attention when his film "Trances" (1982) was honored and presented by Martin Scorsese at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival to inaugurate the World Cinema Foundation.