The year’s final major film festival has unveiled its lineup, and the 23rd Marrakech International Film Festival is serving up a cinephile’s feast of heavy hitters. Opening the festival is Jesse Eisenberg’s sophomore feature, The Debut, which has already made the rounds at Telluride, TIFF, NYFF and London. The Galas bring more star power, with films from Luca Guadagnino and James Gray, alongside Noah Segan’s The Only Living Pickpocket in New York. Two world premieres add a distinctive local charge: Omar Hilal’s His Weakest Creatures and Fellipe Barbosa’s Leila et la nuit, filmed in Marrakech and starring Roschdy Zem and Marina Foïs in a family drama inspired by the life of photographer Leila Alaoui.
In the competition section vying the the Étoile d’Or prize, we find Un Certain Regard winner in Congo Boy by Rafiki Fariala, Camera d’Or winner Ben’imana by Clémentine Dusabejambo, and the top two films from Orizzonti section in Cannes with House of the Wind and A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra. Among the fourteen titles there are a remarkable three world premieres in the likes of Rani Massalha and Salem Massalha‘s Cairo Shadows, Farzad Samsami’s Waves of Silence and Yassine Marco Marroccu‘s Alkebulan. Here is the entire line-up, and while be reporting live from the festival (November 20th-28th).
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
Alkebulan – Yassine Marco Marroccu
Ben’Imana – Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo
Cairo Shadows – Rani Massalha & Salem Massalha
Chronicles from the Siege – Abdallah Al-Khatib
Congo Boy – Rafiki Fariala
A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra – Jacqueline Lentzou
Eklipse – Manuel Wetscher
Furies – Rami Kodeih
House of the Wind – Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu
Marie Madeleine – Gessica Généus
Our Share of Sand – Shalini Adnani
Sad Girlz – Fernanda Tovar
Waves of Silence – Farzad Samsami
The World Before – Yoon Dan-bi
The Debut – Jesse Eisenberg (OPENING)
Artificial – Luca Guadagnino
His Weakest Creatures – Omar Hilal
Leila et la nuit – Fellipe Barbosa
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York – Noah Segan
Paper Tiger – James Gray
Strawberries (La Más Dulce) – Laïla Marrakchi
All of a Sudden – Ryusuke Hamaguchi
A Bit of Light – Ali Asgari
The Burning Giants – Phuttiphong Aroonpheng
Citizen Osama – Ahmed Hassouna
Clarissa – Arie Esiri & Chuko Esiri
Dao – Alain Gomis
The Difficult Bride – Rubaiyat Hossain
Everytime – Sandra Wollner
Fatherland – Pawel Pawlikowski
Fjord – Cristian Mungiu
Glaxo – Benjamín Naishtat
It Will Happen Tonight – Nanni Moretti
Ketticè – Giovanni Tortorici
A Long Winter – Andrew Haigh
Look Back – Hirokazu Kore-eda
The Roses of Marrakech – Ginevra Elkann
Safe Exit – Mohammed Hammad
The Smell of Apples – John Trengove
The Station – Sara Ishaq
That’s All Folks – Gustave Kervern
Woman Unknown – May el-Toukhy
9 Temples to Heaven – Sompot Chidgasornpongse
Al Baraneya – Ashgan El-Hamus
Bedeau, Transit Camp – Yohana Benattar
The Diary of a Chambermaid – Radu Jude
Edward Said: Between Worlds – Maiken Baird
Enough Is Enough – Elisé Sawasawa
I Deserve a Lover Whose Every Rise Sets Fiery Dooms Raging Across the Skies – Mani Haghighi
Nahla – Farouk Beloufa
Once Upon a Time in Harlem – William Greaves & David Greaves
Only Rebels Win – Danielle Arbid
Tilaï – Idrissa Ouedraogo
Variations on a Theme – Jason Jacobs & Devon Delmar
Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep – Rakan Mayasi
Banou – Mouhssine El Badaoui
Bardi – Tala Hadid
Halima – Yassine El Idrissi
Hoods – Mohamed Mouftakir
Man of Signs – Zhor Fassi-Fihri
Until Dawn – Mohamed Zineddaine
CINEMA FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES & FAMILIES
All But My Mother – Mohcine Besri
Girl in the Clouds – Philippe Riche
The Last Whale Singer – Reza Memari
Look Back – Hirokazu Kore-eda
Muyi – Julien Chheng
Tummy Tom and the Lost Teddy Bear – Joost van den Bosch & Erik Verkerk
