The 2023 edition of the Marrakesh International Film Festival, dedicated to new talents in the seventh art, will celebrate two decades of the event in the ocher city with the screening of 75 films from 36 countries in five sections.
Twenty years of the festival, which will be held from November 24 to December 2 and will include Martin Scorsese as guest star and Jessica Chanstein as jury president, will be marked by an official section in which 14 films will be awarded Gold. Will compete for the star. The organization gave this information in a statement on Thursday.
Among them are “Bannel and Adama”, the story of a Senegalese couple who competed in Cannes, “Bye Bye Tiberias”, a documentary about a Palestinian family or “Les Mutes” (The Packs), a film that focuses on Moroccans. It was shot in and was awarded for it. The jury in Cannes.
In addition to films based on Africa and the Middle East, there will also be two South American co-productions among the films selected for the official section: “The Other Sun” by the Colombian Juan Sebastián Quebrada, and “Penal Cordillera” by the Chilean. Felipe Carmona.
Their stories will be mixed with other films that show the society of countries such as Mongolia (“Ser Ser Salhi”) or Madagascar (Disco Africa: A Malagasy Story), they all have one element in common: they are first or second in their Works of directors..
The aim of the Marrakech Festival is to discover new talents and that is why it organizes workshops to promote the creation of new films, which this year will have Scorsese as a luxury guide.
The six gala screenings of the twentieth edition represent the premieres in the field of some of the most anticipated films, such as “Io Capitano” of the Italian director Matteo Garrone, or “Memory” of Michel Franco, which marked an unforgettable turn by Jessica Chastain. ,
The festival’s “special screenings” will also feature 16 films, including new talents such as Sofia Alaoui with “Animalia” or Sudabeh Mortezai with “Europa”.
Another section, “XI Continent”, will be composed of 13 innovative dramatic and documentary films, including the latest works from critically acclaimed filmmakers Kleber Mendonça Filho, Lisandro Alonso and Mona Achache.
The section dedicated to the Moroccan film scene will offer six recent dramatic and documentary films from the festival’s home country, two of which are world premieres: Khalil Zairi’s “Mora Is Here” and Hicham Lassari’s “Moroccan Badass Girl.”
The festival will conclude with 13 films for children and teenagers and several screenings in the legendary FNA Square of the city of Gerú, for young audiences.