Marrakech International Film Festival Unveils Official Selection

For its 23rd edition, running on November 20-28, the Marrakech International Film Festival will celebrate world cinema through a selection of 76 films from 39 countries, featured in several sections.

These include the Official Competition, Gala Screenings, Horizons, the 11th Continent, a Moroccan Panorama, screenings for Young Audiences and Families, and films screened as part of the Tributes section, according to the organizers’ statement.

Among these, 10 films have their world premieres, 12 were supported by the Atlas workshops, the festival’s industry and talent development program, and 11 will represent their nation’s submissions to the race for Oscars.

The official competition will showcase emerging voices in world cinema through 14 first and second feature films competing for the Etoile d’Or, presided over by actress Marion Cotillard, the same source added.

Among the films in competition, several highlight the diverse perspectives of a new generation of filmmakers on contemporary realities. With Ben’imana, Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo delivers a powerful film on the challenges of rebuilding lives in the aftermath of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

In Chronicles from the Siege, Abdallah Al-Khatib vividly portrays the daily lives of people caught up in war. House of the Wind , by Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu, offers a tender portrait of a Cameroonian mother seeking to preserve her bonds with her children who have moved to Europe.

Congo Boy, by Rafiki Fariala, follows the musical dreams of a young refugee in the Central African Republic, while Furies by Rami Kodelh, portrays Lebanon’s economic crisis through a gripping bank heist, notes the statement.

Female directors from Mexico, Korea, and Haiti explore the intimate upheavals experienced by female characters: Sad Girlz by Fernanda Tovar, which tests the friendship of two swimmers confronted with sexual assault, The World Before , by Yoon Dan-bi, a delicate summer tale of first romance, and Marie Madeleine by Gessica Généus, a poetic work celebrating freedom.

Other stories explore the transformations of adolescence. Eklipse by Manuel Wetsher, is about the ravages of prejudice in an Austrian rural community, Our Share of Sand , by Shalini Adnani, in which a young girl discovers the injustices hidden behind her family’s prosperity in indian, and A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra, by Jacqueline Lentzou, a coming-of-age story that pushes the boundaries of realism.

Three films in the competition have their world premieres. Alkebulan , by Moroccan director Yassine Marco Marroccu, is an ambitious adventure film set between the Sahara of the 1960s and Italy of the 1930s. The Iranian-Norwegian filmmaker Farzad Samsami will present Waves of Silence, a moral drama about migrant shipwrecks, filmed in Morocco and starring Amine Ennaji.

Rani and Salem Massalha will present Cairo Shadows, an intimate thriller set within Egypt’s Coptic community. The 23rd edition will open with The Debut, a comedy by Jesse Eisenberg starring Julianne Moore as an overlooked housewife who discovers an all-consuming passion for amateur theatre.

Gala Screenings will feature some of the year’s most eagerly awaited international films, including two world premieres; among them is Leila et la nuit by Fellipe Barbosa, inspired by the life of Moroccan Photographer Leila Alaoui, starring Roschdy Zem and Marina Fois.

Another world premiere, His Weakest Creatures , by Omar Hilal, brings Egyptian starts Ahmed Helmy and Hend Sabry together on screen for the first time in an adventure film blending dark comedy and part thriller. John Turturro will attend to present Noah Segan’s The Only Living Pickpocket in New York , in which he delivers a standout performance as an aging thief struggling to keep up with the modern world.

Laila Marrakchi will present Strawberries , which will represent Morocco at the Oscars, a feminist survival story set in the daily lives of seasonal workers in Spain. James Gray will present Paper Tiger , a compelling thriller with hints of family melodrama, while Luca Guadagnino will unveil Artificial , a film that is both humorous and unsettling, tracing the rise of OpenAi founder Sam Altman, portrayed by Andrew Garfield.

The Horizons section brings together 21 films showcasing the vitality and diversity of world cinema, including several works that have received top honors at the Festival de Cannes and the Venice Film Festival. It features new films by leading directors such as Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Cristian Mungiu, Pawel Pawlikowski, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Nanni Moretti.

The selection also celebrates the vitality of Arab cinema through Safe Exit , an Egyptian psychological thriller by Mohammed Hammad, The Station , a feminist dystopian film by Sara Ishaq set in Yemen, and Citizen Osama , Ahmed Hassouna’s moving documentary about Gaza.

Filmed in Morocco, The Roses of Marrakech , by Ginevra Elkann, brings together Fanny Ardant and Nisrin Erradi in a story of female solidarity. The Horizons selection also explores a range of film genres, from Benjamin Naishtat’s political thriller Glaxo to Phuttiphong Aroonpheng’s ecological fable The Burning Giants, the Political tale A Bit of Light and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s manga adaptation Look Back .

African cinema is represented by Dao , by Alain Gomis, Clarissa by Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri, and The Smell of Apples by John Trengove. Many artists will be in Marrakech to present their films, including filmmaker Andrew Halgh with A Long Winter, Gustave Kervern and Suzanne Lindon for That’s All Folks as well as actress Jasmine Trinca for It Will Happen Tonight, Nanni Moretti’s romantic comedy.

The 11th Continent program features 13 films exploring free and innovative cinema. It includes fiction films by Danielle Arbid, Sompot Chidgasornpongse and Radu Jude, as well as well as documentaries such as Edward Said: Between Worlds and Bedeau, transit camp, which will be presented as a world premiere. The section also highlights the diversity of cinematic expression through contemporary works Al Baraneya, Yesterday the eye didn’t sleep and Variations on a Theme and restored classics, including Nahla by Farouk Beloufa and Tilaï by Idrissa Ouedraogo.

The Moroccan Panorama brings together six fiction and documentary films, including Bardi by Tala Hadid, which will open the section, and three world premieres, among them Hoods by Mohamed Mouftakir. A total of 11 Moroccan films is featured across the Festival’s various sections, in addition to three films shot in Morocco.

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