A fatal earthquake in Morocco, outbreak of war in the Middle East and several months of strikes in Hollywood have not been enough to deter Marrakech International Film Festival from forging ahead with its 2023 edition as planned. Running November 24 to December 2, the event will celebrate a 20th anniversary edition, serving up its signature blend of big stars and emerging talent following what was a 2022 comeback event after two years of Covid-fuelled cancellations.
“We have prepared this edition driven by the belief the spaces for exchange, meetings and dialogue offered by film festivals must be preserved more than ever,” says artistic director Rémi Bonhomme. “These are sombre times when dialogue has become increasingly difficult. However, cinema represents an opportunity for discussion, for bringing people together in a theatre to share emotions simultaneously. It’s a place for empathy, listening and sharing. For all these reasons, the festival needed to happen this year.”
However, it will not be business as usual. “Festivals are never disconnected from the reality of the world, which is reflected not only in the films we show from international directors but will also be present in our thoughts. As festivals, our response is to continue showcasing films and providing a platform for interaction with audiences and rising talent.”
Star names
This year’s edition will see 75 films from 36 countries screen across several sections, with Richard Linklater’s Hit Man opening the festival. It was a deliberate choice on Bonhomme’s part to kick off the festival with a comedy. “There’s nothing more beautiful than the sound of laughter in a cinema,” he says. “It’s essential, especially right now.”
Linklater’s film is one of six titles set for red carpet Gala screenings along with Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano and Michel Franco’s Memory starring Jessica Chastain. The actress also heads the festival’s starry main jury, which includes actors Zar Amir, Camille Cottin, Joel Edgerton and Alexander Skarsgard, filmmakers Joanna Hogg, Dee Rees and Tarik Saleh, and Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani. The festival is also due to honour Mads Mikkelsen and Faouzi Bensaïdi with achievement awards, while Simon Baker, Bertrand Bonello, Anurag Kashyap, Naomi Kawase, Viggo Mortensen, Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton and Andrey Zvyagintsev are due to attend for on-stage conversations.
The festival has earned a reputation for balancing famous faces with debut directors and emerging talent from the African continent, a factor Bonhomme attributes to “the passionate work of Mélita Toscan du Plantier”. She has been a driving force in turning Marrakech into a hub of glamour that has been able to attract Hollywood royalty for the past two decades and counting, working alongside the festival’s executive vice president Faïcal Laraïchi. It is also presided over by Morocco’s own royalty, His Royal Highness Prince Moulay Rachid.
Longtime loyal festival attendee Martin Scorsese will serve as patron of the sixth edition of parallel industry-focused Atlas Workshops, dedicated to emerging talent from the region and running November 27-30. Scorsese describes what he calls “a precious task — to interact with young filmmakers and help to guide them on their way”.
“The festival is an opportunity for a unique meeting between big names in the world of cinema with a new generation of talents,” Bonhomme says of what has already proven to be a launchpad for several projects and filmmakers in recent years.
Last year’s jury member Vanessa Kirby recently boarded as executive producer on Carmen Jaquier’s Swiss Oscar entry Thunder after discovering the film at the festival, where it was presented in competition. French-Moroccan director Sofia Alaoui also makes a triumphant return to present a case study on her Sundance-selected sci-fi fantasy Animalia, which had its start at the Atlas Workshops.
“African cinema is finally starting to arrive on screens and at festivals,” Bonhomme notes. Nine films that had their start at the Atlas workshops feature in this year’s selection including four in competition. “There is an incredible energy of filmmakers and producers at the Atlas Workshops. They are warriors in filmmaking and have such creativity. The festival directors and distributors who come always notice this surge of energy.”
The main competition includes 14 feature films from 13 countries, 10 of which are first films, eight from female directors and several 2024 Oscar entries for their respective countries. “When we choose a first feature, we’re choosing a filmmaker, not just a film,” Bonhomme says of Marrakech as a showcase for up-and-coming voices. “A new generation of filmmakers in the region are allowing themselves to try everything, not just the traditional socially or politically charged stories, but playing with new genres.”
Emerging talent
“Films from first- or second-time directors typically reflect the obsessions and preoccupations of young people across the world,” Bonhomme continues. “It is always interesting to see how the work by upcoming directors from different regions open a cinematic dialogue with each other.”
While the films in competition are different in style and substance, recurring themes this year include “questioning the transmission of memory and telling national history through intimate family stories”, such as Lina Soualem’s Bye Bye Tiberias, Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother Of All Lies and Luck Razanajaona’s Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story, to films about death and mourning. “We’re seeing more and more filmmakers in this post-Covid world asking existential questions,” Bonhomme observes, citing Croatian director Daina O Pusic’s Tuesday, a dark comedy starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Johnny Barrington’s Silent Roar and Juan Sebastian Quebrada’s The Other Son.
Other key sections include the 11th Continent programme, featuring 13 innovative drama and documentary films that Bonhomme calls “extremely eclectic”; a Special Screenings sidebar that will showcase 16 films that have made a mark on the festival circuit this year; Panorama of Moroccan Cinema; Cinema for Young Audiences; and the always-packed Jemaa El Fnaa screenings in Marrakech’s historic landmark square.
The melting pot of cultures prides itself not only on its unique interactions between established and emerging talent, but also between such talent with audiences via a number of debates and between the local and international industries on a professional level.
The festival continues to see its role as threefold: to work with local distributors and press to give visibility for upcoming releases and boost theatrical releases in the region; to give first and second features exposure in competition backed by media attention to the festival thanks to its star wattage; and to propel projects in early stages of development through the Atlas Workshops.
“This edition will be filled with emotion,” says Bonhomme, thanks to the festival’s uncommon concoction of A-list talent and passionate newcomers, strong stories on screen and diverse audiences against the backdrop of an increasingly tumultuous world.
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