Marrakech International Film Festival will present honorary tributes to Sean Penn, David Cronenberg and late Moroccan actress Naima Elmcherqui at its 21st edition this year (November 29-December 7).
The festival will present a programme dedicated to each person, featuring highlights from their careers.
Marrakech describes Penn as “one of the most gifted actors of his generation”, highlighting his work with filmmakers including Brian De Palma (on Casualties Of War), Oliver Stone (on U Turn), David Fincher (on The Game) and Terrence Malick (on The Tree Of Life).
The festival notes that Canadian filmmaker Cronenberg “has built up a singular body of work that fascinates, disturbs, and questions by way of his preferred themes: technology, the body, and illness.” It cites his collaborations with actors including Jeremy Irons, Viggo Mortensen, Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.
Elmcherqui – whose surname is also spelled Lamcharki – died on October 5 this year, aged 81. She had worked in the Moroccan screen industry since the 1960s, on films including Mohammed Abderrahman Tazi’s In Search of My Wife’s Husband and Lalla Hobby. She was also a member of the board of directors of the festival, which describes her as “a true grande dame. Her departure leaves a void in the national cultural landscape.”
The Marrakech programme will be announced in the coming weeks, with Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg chairing the competition jury. Projects by Lina Soualem and Djanis Bouzyani are among the 27 titles selected for the prestigious Atlas Workshops.
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