Marrakesh Festival turns 20: Martin Scorsese and Jessica Chastain expected to open Netflix film… Full program for 2023 edition

Nineteen years! This is a special edition offered by the Marrakesh International Film Festival. The event, which celebrates cinema from the African continent and around the world, kicks off its festivities this Friday, November 24 to December 2.

During 8 days, an audience of prestigious personalities observes numerous previews, meetings and external sessions. A total of 75 films from 36 different countries will be shown.

For this 20th edition, the chairmanship of the jury was entrusted to the Oscar-winning actress, Jessica Chastain. He is surrounded by Iranian actor Zar Amir, French woman Camille Cotin, Australian actor and director Joel Edgerton, British film director Joanna Hogg, American Dee Reese, Swedish-Egyptian director Tariq Saleh, Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård and Franco. – Moroccan writer Leila Slimani.

Their mission will be to award five prizes: the Golden Star (the main prize of the festival), the Jury Prize, the Director’s Prize, as well as the Male and Female Acting Prizes. Richard Linklater’s new film, Hit Man – offered by Netflix – has been chosen to open the 20th edition.

Martin Scorsese as The Godfather

Even though his latest film, Assassins of Flower Moon, has crossed the million mark in France, Martin Scorsese returns to the Marrakech International Film Festival. It will sponsor the 6th edition of Atlas Workshops, which aims to support the new generation of Moroccan, Arab and African filmmakers.

Thus, 25 projects were selected. They will benefit from quality support from consultants, from scripting to production and editing. This 2023 selection is called “The Martin Scorsese Action.” We have seen worse.

Meetings with Willem Dafoe, Mads Mikkelsen, Tilda Swinton…

Before talking about the official selection, it is important to remember the many events organized during the festival. In this way, ten international names participate in the meetings “Talking…”, during which each person will review his career path and past experience.

Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton, Simon Baker, Fauzi Bensaid, Bertrand Bonello, Anurag Kashyap, Naomi Kawase, Viggo Mortensen, Andrei Zvyagintsev and Mads Mikkelsen. The Danish actor will receive the Golden Star for his career with Moroccan director Fouzi Bensaid.

Screen movies

The screenings of the festival are divided into several stages: gala sessions, where the main premieres of international films will be shown; Special screenings with presentations of 16 contemporary films from; the 11th continent section, during which modern and classic works of avant-garde cinema are shown; Young audience sessions; Morocco Cinema Panorama and Jemaa el Fna square screenings with screenings of popular films such as the latest Indiana Jones.

As for the official selection, 14 films were selected – including 8 female directors. Of these 14 films, 13 come from different countries, from America to Mongolia.

Discover the official selection:

• Banel & Adama de Ramata-Toulaye Sy (France, Senegal, Mali)
• Bye Bye Tiberias by Lina Soualem (Palestine, France, Belgium, Qatar)
• Windy City by Lkhagwadulam Purev-Ochir (France, Mongolia, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Qatar)
• Disco Africa: The Malagasy Story of Luc Razanajaona (France, Madagascar, Mauritius, Germany, South Africa)
• Nehir Tuna dormitory (Turkey, Germany, France)
• Una Gunjak excursion (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, France, Norway, Qatar)
• Mother of all lies Asmae El Moudir (Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar)
• Kamal Lazraqi Packages (Morocco, France, Belgium, Qatar, Saudi Arabia)
• Our World by Luana Bajram (Kosovo, France)
• Another son of Juan Sebastian Quebrada (Colombia, France, Argentina)
• Castle in the Andes of Felipe Carmona (Chile, Brazil)
• Silent Roar Johnny Barrington (UK)
• Karolina Markovic (Brazil, Portugal)
• Tuesday by Daina O. Pusič (USA, UK).

Appointment on this link Discover the entire program of the Marrakech International Film Festival.