The Marrakech Film Festival, which opened Friday with Justin Kurzel’s timely thriller “The Order,” has more than 70 films in its lineup, which, as is customary, mixes known titles and fresh fare.
“The Order” is part of the event’s gala screenings that also comprise French-Moroccan auteur Nabil Ayouch’s feminist musical drama “Everybody Loves Touda,” Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here” and Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” all of which will be accompanied by their directors.
The 14-title competition dedicated to first and second works includes Moroccan director Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s melodrama “Across the Sea,” about North African exiles in Marseilles, and Hind Meddeb’s doc “Sudan, Remember Us,” which pays homage to Sudanese people and culture by chronicling their 2019 revolution. “Sudan, Remember Us” is among films supported by the fest’s Atlas Workshops industry initiative, aimed at fostering and supporting the emergence of a new generation of Moroccan, Arab and African filmmakers.
Other competition entries include Polish director Damian Kocur’s “Under the Volcano,” about a family from Kyiv that learns their stay in Spain has become indefinite with the invasion of Ukraine; Somali filmmaker Mo Harawe’s “The Village Next to Paradise,” which was the first ever Somali film to screen at Cannes; and Australian/U.K. director Gabrielle Brady’s climate change doc “The Wolves Always Come at Night,” about a sheep-herding family in Mongolia who are forced to give up their way of life after an extremely brutal winter.
This year’s high-caliber guests will include Sean Penn and David Cronenberg, who are being honored, and “The Bikeriders” director Jeff Nichols, who will be mentoring the Atlas Workshops.
Luca Guadagnino will preside over a top-notch jury panel that also includes Iranian director Ali Abbasi, Indian director Zoya Akhtar, American actor Patricia Arquette, Belgian actor Virginie Efira, Australian actor Jacob Elordi, British-American actor Andrew Garfield, Moroccan actor Nadia Kounda and Argentine director Santiago Mitre.
A major cultural event in Morocco, Marrakech is one of the only international festivals of this scale where screenings and masterclasses are free and open to the public.
See the main lineup below.
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
“Across the Sea,” by Saïd Hamich Benlarbi (France, Morocco, Belgium)
“Bound in Heaven,” by Huo Xin (China)
“The Cottage,” by Silvina Schnicer (Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Chile)
“Happy Holidays,” by Scandar Copti (Palestine, Germany, France, Italy, Qatar)
“Happyend” by Neo Sora is a work from Japan and the United States.
“Jane Austen Wrecked My Life,” by Laura Piani (France)
“Ma-Cry of Silence,” by The Maw Naing (Myanmar, Singapore, France, Norway, South Korea, Qatar)
“One of Those Days When Hemme Dies” is a piece by Murat Fıratoğlu from Turkey.
“Perfumed With Mint” is authored by Muhammed Hamdy, with roots in Egypt, Qatar, Tunisia, and France.
“Silent Storms” (Les Tempêtes), by Dania Reymond-Boughenou (France, Belgium)
“Sudan, Remember Us,” by Hind Meddeb (France, Tunisia, Qatar – Documentary)
“Under The Volcano,” by Damian Kocur (Poland)
“The Village Next to Paradise,” by Mo Harawe (Austria, France, Germany, Somalia)
“The Wolves Always Come at Night,” by Gabrielle Brady (Australia, Mongolia, Germany) Documentary
GALA SCREENINGS
“The Order,” by Justin Kurzel (Canada) — Opening Film
“Everybody Loves Touda,” by Nabil Ayouch (France, Morocco, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway)
“Fourth Wall,” by David Oelhoffen (France, Luxembourg, Belgium)
“I’m Still Here,” by Walter Salles (Brazil, France)
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” by Mohammad Rasoulof (Germany, France, Iran)
“The Shrouds,” by David Cronenberg (France, Canada)
“The Ties That Bind Us,” by Carine Tardieu (France, Belgium)
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
“All We Imagine as Light,” by Payal Kapadia (France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg)
“Apocalypse in the Tropics,” by Petra Costa (Brazil) – Documentary
“Bird,” by Andrea Arnold (U.K.)
“The Brink of Dreams,” by Nada Riyadh, Ayman El Amir (Egypt, France, Denmark, Qatar, Saudi Arabia” Documentary
“The Camp at Thiaroye,” by Ousmane Sembène, Thierno Faty Sow ( Senegal, Algeria, Tunisia) (1988) – Restored version
“Conclave,” by Edward Berger (USA, U.K.)
“Diaries From Lebanon,” by Myriam El Hajj (Lebanon, France, Qatar) Documentary
“Fanon,” by Jean-Claude Barny (France, Luxembourg, Canada)
“Kill The Jockey,” by Luis Ortega (Argentina, Mexico, Spain, Denmark, U.S.)
“Mikado,” by Baya Kasmi (France)
“On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” by Rungano Nyoni (Zambia, U.K.)
“Stranger Eyes,” by Yeo Siew Hua (Singapore, Taiwan, France, U.S.)
“To a Land Unknown,” by Mahdi Fleifel (U.K., Palestine, France, Greece, Netherlands, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia)
“The Vanishing,” by Karim Moussaoui (France, Germany, Tunisia)
“Who Do I Belong To,” by Meryam Joobeur (Tunisia, France, Canada)
