Marrakech International Film Festival has unveiled the full line-up for its 21st edition which will open with Justin Kurzel’s crime thriller The
Marrakech International Film Festival has unveiled the full line-up for its 21st edition which will open with Justin Kurzel’s crime thriller The Order on November 29 and run to December 7.
Kurzel’s debut feature Snowtown won the festival’s top prize, the Etoile d’Or, in 2011, and the filmmaker returned in 2022 to serve on the jury.
This year’s jury will be presided over by Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, replacing Thomas Vinterberg, and will award the Étoile d’Or for best film to one of 14 first- and second-time features in the international competition.
In total, the festival will screen 70 films from 32 countries, including 14 documentaries, 12 Moroccan titles, nine world or international premieres and nine films submitted by their countries for this year’s international feature Oscar race.
Festival artistic director Rémi Bonhomme said: “The spirit of the festival is to continue to be a unique place where the biggest talent in global cinema can meet young voices.”
Highlights
Six films from female directors will screen in the main competition including Gabrielle Brady’s The Wolves Always Come At Night, which tackles climate change and urban migration in Mongolia, and Laura Piani’s romantic comedy Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, which Sony Pictures Classics acquired ahead of its Toronto world premiere.
Twelve films in the festival’s official selection have passed through its parallel talent incubator the Atlas Workshops. These include Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s Cannes Critics’ Week premiere Across The Sea, Hind Meddeb’s documentary Sudan, Remember Us, Venice Critics’ Week selection Perfumed With Mint and Mo Harawe’s Somalian family drama The Village Next To Paradise, which premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.
Debut features in the lineup include Neo Sora’s Japanese comedy drama Happyend, Silvina Schnicer’s The Cottage from Argentina, Dania Reymond-Boughenou’s Silent Storms and Turkish filmmaker Murat Firatoglu’s One Of Those Days When Hemme Dies which premiered in Venice’s Horizons.
The festival’s red carpet will host six gala screenings including three titles submitted for this year’s Oscar race: Nabil Ayouch’s Everybody Loves Touda, Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here and Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed Of The Sacred Fig.
Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, Andrea Arnold’s Bird and Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming A Guinea Fowl are among the 15 films selected as special screenings, while the 11th Continent programme for films from typically underrepresented countries that challenge stereotypes include Sylvie Ballyot’s Lebanese civil war documentary Green Line and Ali Asghari’s hybrid film Higher Than the Acidic Clouds about being an artist under Iranian censorship.
Sean Penn, David Cronenberg and the behind schedule Moroccan star Naïma Elmcherqui are set to receive career honours.
This year’s festival lineup:
Competition
Across The Sea, dir. Saïd Hamich Benlarbi (Fr-Mor-Belg)
Bound In Heaven, dir. Huo Xin (China)
The Cottage, dir. Silvina Schnicer (Argentina)
Happy Holidays, dir. Scandar Copti (Pal-Ger-Fr-It-Qat)
Happyend, dir. Neo Sora (Japan)
Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, dir. Laura Piani (Fr)
Ma – Cry Of Silence, dir. The Maw Naing (Myanmar-Sing-Fr-Nor-S Kor-Qat)
One Of Those Days When Hemme Dies, dir. Murat Firatoğlu (Turkey)
Perfumed With Mint, dir. Mohamed Hamdy (Egy-Qat-Tun-Fr)
Silent Storms, dir. Dania Reymond-Boughenou (Fr-Belg)
Sudan, Remember Us, dir. Hind Meddeb (Fr-Tun-Qat)
Under The Volcano, dir. Damian Kocur (Poland)
The Village Next To Paradise, dir. Mo Harawe (Austria-Fr-Ger-Somalia)
The Wolves Always Come At Night, dir. Gabrielle Brady (Australia-Mongolia-Ger)
Gala Screenings
The Order, dir. Justin Kurzel (Australia)
Everybody Loves Touda, dir. Nabil Ayouch (Fr-Mor-Belg-Den-Neth-Nor)
The Fourth Wall, dir. David Oelhoffen (Fr-Lux-Belg)
I’m Still Here, dir. Walter Salles (Brazil)
The Ties That Bind Us, dir. Carine Tardieu (Fr-Belg)
The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, dir. Mohammad Rasoulof (Ger-Fr-Iran)
The Shrouds, dir. David Cronenberg (Fr-Can)
Special Screenings
All We Imagine As Light, dir. Payal Kapadia (Fr-India-Neth-Lux)
Apocalypse In The Tropics, dir. Petra Costa (Brazil)
Bird, dir. Andrea Arnold (UK)
The Brink Of Dreams, dir. Nada Riyad (Egy-Fr-Den-Qat-Saudi)
Camp De Thiaroye, dirs. Ousmane Sembene, Thierno Faty Sow (Senegal-Alg-Tun)
Conclave, dir. Edward Berger (US)
Diaries From Lebanon, dir. Myriam El Hajj (Leb-Fr-Qat-Saudi)
Fanon, dir. Jean-Claude Barny (Fr-Lux-Can)
Kill The Jockey, dir. Luis Ortega (Arg-Mex-Sp-Den-US)
Mikado, dir. Baya Kasmi (Fr)
On Becoming A Guinea Fowl, dir. Rungano Nyoni (Zambia-UK)
Stranger Eyes, dir. Yeo Siew Hua (Sing-Taiwan-Fr-US)
To A Land Unknown, dir. Mahdi Fleifel (UK-Pal-Fr-Gre-Neth-Ger-Qat-Saudi)
The Vanishing, dir. Karim Moussaoui (Fr-Ger-Tun)
Who Do I Belong To, dir. Meryem Joobeur (Tun-Fr-Can)
11th Continent
A Fidai Film, dir. Kamal Aljafari (Pal-Ger-Qat-Braz-Fr)
Cabo Negro, dir. Abdellah Taïa (Fr-Mor)
The Damned, dir. Roberto Minervini (It-US-Belg)
Grand Tour, dir. Miguel Gomes (Port-It-Fr)
Green Line, dir. Sylvie Ballyot (Fr-Leb-Qat)
Higher Than Acidic Clouds, dir. Ali Asghari (Iran-Lux)
The Night Still Smells Of Gunpowder, dir. Inadelso Cossa (Mozambique-Fr-Ger-Port-Neth-Nor)
No Sleep Till, dir. Alexandra Simpson (US-Switz)
Rising Up At Night, dir. Nelson Makengo (DRC-Belg-Ger-Burkina Faso-Qat)
Rock Bottom, dir. Maria Trenor (Sp-Pol)
Universal Language, dir. Matthew Rankin (Canada)
Wishing On A Star, dir. Peter Kerekes (It-Slovakia-Czech-Austria)
Moroccan Panorama
Your Mother, dir. Samira El Mouzghibati (Belg-Fr)
The Blue Lake, dir. Daoud Aoulad-Syad (Morocco)
Les Mille Et Un Jours Du Hajj Edmond, dir. Simone Bitton (Mor-Fr)
Nocturnal Sonata, dir. Abdeslam Kelai (Morocco)
Since I Was Born, dir. Jawad Rhalib (Mor-Belg)
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