The Atlas Workshops, the industry platform of the Marrakech International Film Festival, has unveiled 25 projects for its sixth edition, which runs from November 27-30.
Atlas Workshops has lined up 16 projects in development and nine films in production or post-production from 11 countries across the Arab world and African continent.
The line-up includes projects from Tunisian directors Youssef Chebbi and Erige Sehiri. Chebbi’s feature Ashkal played in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes last year, as did Sehiri’s Under The Fig Trees.
Also coming to The Atlas Workshops is Somalia’s Khadar Ayderus Ahmed whose film The Gravedigger’s Wife debuted at Cannes Critics’ Week in 2021.
Participants also include Lebanon’s Leila Basma, whose short film Sea Salt premiered in competition at Venice this year, and multidisciplinary artist Sammy Baloji from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, whose project Il Padre Selvaggio is an adaptation of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s final screenplay.
The Atlas Workshops will also unveil first images from upcoming films, including Agora by Tunisia’s Ala Eddine Slim whose feature Tlamess played in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2019.
There are also first images for Somalian director Mo Harawe’s The Village Next To Paradise; Harawe’s short Will My Parents Come To See Me played at the 2022 Berlinale.
Tunisia’s Meryam Joobeur, whose 2018 short film Brotherhood was nominated for an Academy Award, will also show images from Motherhood. Moroccan producer and director Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s La Mer au Loin, which was selected for the last edition of the Workshops while it was in development, will also show footage.
The Atlas Film Showcase will also see Moroccan filmmaker Hicham Lasri present extracts from his new film Happy Lovers.
This year’s selection spans a diverse range of film genres, from Lebanese director Sandra Tabet’s horror film Rabies to Morocco’s Hind Bensari’s humanist documentary Out of School and fellow Moroccan director Adnane Baraka’s dystopian project We Don’t Forget.
Among the participants are 11 female directors, four of whom are Moroccan, and 12 female producers. The shortlisted participants were selected from 320 applications.
The selected teams will receive support in screenwriting, production, distribution, editing, and music, and then participate in a Co-Production Market, Juries award cash prizes totaling €126,000, including the ArteKino Prize.
2023 Atlas Workshops projects and films
Projects In Development
Amnesia Dir. Dima Hamdan (Palestine)
Hold Time For Me (Segura Para Mim O Tempo) Dir. Fradique (Angola)
Il Padre Selvaggio Dir. Sammy Baloji (DRC)
La Nuit Nous Protège Dir. Moumouni Sanou (Burkina Faso)
Plague (Fléau) Dir. Youssef Chebbi (Tun)
Rabies (La Rage) Dir. Sandra Tabet (Leb)
Running With Beasts Dir. Leila Basma (Leb)
The Camel Driving School Dir. Halima Ouardiri (Mor)
The Passion Of Aline (La Passion d’Aline) Dir. Rokhaya Marieme Balde (Sen)
Thundering Smoke (Mosi-Oa-Tunya) Dir. Khadar Ayderus Ahmed (Som)
We Don’t Forget Dir. Adnane Baraka (Mor)
Wolfmother (Les Fils De La Louve) Dir. Ismaël El Iraki (Mor)
Atlas Close-Ups (Moroccan projects in development)
Atlantic Mirage (La Fin De L’été) Dir. Hakim Mao (Mor)
Out Of School Dir. Hind Bensari (Mor)
Road Trip Dir. Linda Qibaa (Mor)
Shehrazade’s Birds (Les Oiseaux De Shehrazade) Dir. Sofia El Khyari (Mor)
Films in production or post-production
Agora Dir. Ala Eddine Slim (Tun)
La Mer Au Loin Dir. Saïd Hamich Benlarbi (Mor)
Marie & Jolie Dir. Erige Sehiri (Tun)
Motherhood Dir. Meryam Joobeur (Tun)
Perfumed With Mint Dir. Muhammed Hamdy (Egypt)
The Magma Dir. Mia Bendrimia (Alg)
The Village Next To Paradise Dir. Mo Harawe (Som)
Atlas Film Showcase (films in final stages of editing seeking festival premieres)
Demba Dir. Mamadou Dia (Senegal)
Happy Lovers Dir. Hicham Lasri (Mor)
No comments yet