The Marrakech International Film Festival committee has unveiled the list of films partaking in the official contest of its 19th edition scheduled between November 11 and 19.
The films represent 14 countries including four in Europe (France, Portugal, Switzerland, and Sweden), two from Latin America (Brazil and Mexico), four from the MENA region (Morocco, Somalia, Syria, and Tunisia), in addition to works from Australia, Canada, Iran, Indonesia, and Türkiye.
The 19th edition of the festival aims at unveiling and promoting new talents in the global cinema industry. The competing works include 10 feature films.
According to the festival’s managing committee, these films offer a chance to explore various types of cinema productions including fantasy, thrillers, historic movies, social drama and melodrama. They also focus on topics that reflect the concerns of the younger generation around the world, such as identity building, role model search, women’s position in the contemporary societies, and transitions in traditions, political inheritance, and even love.
The partaking films are: “The Living Soul” by Christel Alves Mira (Portugal); “Shapes” by Youssef al-Shabi (Tunisia); “Astrakhan” by David Doubisevil (France); “Biography” by Makboul Mubarak (Indonesia); “The Blue Kaftan” by Mariam al-Tousani (Morocco); “Far Song” by Clarissa Campolina (Brazil); “Petroleum” by Alina Ludkina (Australia); “Red Shoe” by Carlos Caesar Eshelman (Mexico); “Raysboy Sleeps” by Antony Shim (Canada); “Amina” by Ahmed Abdullah (Sweden); “The Snow and The Bear” by Celcine Ergun (Türkiye); “A Story from Shamroun” by Imad Ibrahim Dahkari (Iran); “Taste of Red Apple” by Ihab Tarabay (Syria); and “Lightning” by Carmen Jackie (Switzerland).
The official jury of the contest is composed of Italian director Paolo Sorrentino (chair), Danish director Susanne Bier, Guatemalan-born US actor and producer Oscar Isaac, British actor Vanessa Kirby, German actor Diane Kruger, Australian director Justin Kurzel, Lebanese director and actor Nadine Labaki, Moroccan director Laïla Marrakchi and French actor Tahar Rahim.
In addition to the official contest, the 19th edition of FIFM hosts several sections including Celebratory Shows, Special Shows, “Eleventh Continent”, “Panorama of Moroccan Cinema”, “Cinema of Emerging Audience”, “Shows of Jemaa el-Fnaa Square”, as well as tribute ceremonies, and a wide collection of 76 films from 33 countries that represent cinema experiences from across the world.
The opening ceremony will see the screening of “Pinocchio” by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro with the participation of US musician Mark Gustavson. The “celebratory shows” section will display international films including James Gray’s ‘Armageddon Time’, Neil Jordan’s ‘Marlowe’, Tarek Saleh’s ‘Boy from Heaven’, Paul Schrader’s ‘Master Gardener’, in addition to many other films that made great echoes in the international cinema circles such as Maha Haj’s ‘Mediterranean Fever’ (Palestine), and Sally El-Husseini’s ‘The Swimmers’ (Egypt).
The “Special Shows” section is set to display 15 films from different countries including Iceland, India, South Korea, by directors who were hailed by international critics like Alice Dayoub, Joanna Hogg, Marie Kreutzer, Jafar Panâhi, Fatih Akin, and Philippe Faucon.
The “Eleventh Continent” section features 12 movies including feature films and documentaries that explore daring subjects, and open a dialogue between the international, contemporary cinema (from Lebanon, Paraguay, Brazil, Spain, and Rwanda…), in addition to updated versions of two classics considered among progressive works in the Arabic and African cinema.
