For its upcoming edition, the Marrakech Film Festival is pulling out all the stops.
After a more subdued edition last year due to the Israel-Hamas conflict and the effects of a disastrous earthquake, the event — which has close ties with the crème de la crème of global auteurs — can boast a talent roster on the scale of top international festivals such as Cannes or Venice for its 21st iteration, set to run Nov. 29 to Dec. 7 in the ancient Moroccan city.
Big names set to make the trek to Morocco include Sean Penn, Tim Burton and Monica Bellucci, Alfonso Cuarón, Justine Triet, Ava DuVernay and David Cronenberg. Luca Guadagnino is presiding over the competition jury, which includes hotshot actors Jacob Elordi and Andrew Garfield.
Below, Variety speaks with the fest’s artistic director Rémi Bonhomme – a former driving force behind Cannes’ Critics Week – about how he pulled it off and why having the competition titles viewed by such a strong jury “means a lot for those young filmmakers.”
Last year’s edition was more sober, in the spirit of resilience. But now Marrakech is roaring back. How have you grown?
Yes, we’re back to an edition that has no constraints at all and that allows us to keep developing the work we’re doing here, which is basically making Marrakech quite a unique place where we can gather the most renowned filmmakers and actors. And at the same time, giving space to new voices in cinema through the competition that is first and second films from international filmmakers and through the workshops, where we’ve been supporting emerging talents from the region with great success since their inception seven years ago. With this edition, we’ll push this further by also having more exchange between those new talents and the big names.
Speaking of big names, let’s talk about the opener, Justin Kurzel’s timely thriller “The Order,” in which Jude Law plays an FBI agent fighting neo-Nazi terrorists. Why did you want it to open the festival?
I’m very glad that we are the second festival after Venice to screen the film. They didn’t want to do any other festivals. This is also thanks to the strong link we have with Justin Kurzel, whose first film “The Snowtown Murders,” played at the festival and won a prize. Also, I know him personally, from my previous position at the [Cannes] Critics Week where I had the opportunity to program his first short film and also “Snowtown.” So the fact that he’s coming back to open the festival and for a conversation reflects the trust we build with filmmakers with whom we start to work and how they want to come back.
This year’s jury is also pretty impressive, with Luca Guadagnino leading and jurors like Jacob Elordi and Andrew Garfield. What does that mean to you?
Marrakech is known to have a prestigious jury every year, but I think this year it really stands out. Of course, it’s significant that we have Luca Guadagnino [who replaced Thomas Vinterberg] at a time when Luca has such a crazy schedule. He absolutely wanted to come and this is very meaningful in terms of the relationship we have with filmmakers. But I’m also very glad that we have big names that you don’t often see on major international festival juries. I’m thinking of Jacob Elordi, who is a huge star. Of course, having a competition of first and second films exposed to a young actor like him means a lot for those young filmmakers. Then there is Andrew Garfield, another amazing actor whom we haven’t seen much in international juries. So this mix on the jury of having Ali Abbasi, who is now under the spotlight for his new film [“The Apprentice”]; Santiago Mitre, who is one of the strongest voices in South American cinema; and an iconic actress such as Patricia Arquette, combined with those two actors who don’t have much experience on big festival juries. I think that’s very exciting.
The Conversations and Atlas Workshops also seem more integrated. How did that come to be?
Yes, with this edition, we’ll push this further by having more exchange between those new talents and the big names. The conversation program is actually a good example of that because, among the prestigious guests that we host this year, they also feature four young Moroccan filmmakers [Alaa Eddine Aljem, Yasmine Benkiran, Ismaël El Iraki and Kamal Lazraq] having a cross-discussion between them. They’ve all made a very exciting first feature that was supported by the Atlas Workshops. And giving voice to this new generation of Moroccan filmmakers, in the midst of this exceptional list of speakers, illustrates very well the festival’s spirit. Also this year’s patron of the Atlas Workshops, Jeff Nichols, is an exceptional filmmaker of whom I’m personally a big fan and who has great influence on the new generation of filmmakers. “Take Shelter” is a reference film for a lot of young directors. He will be coming to give feedback and exchange views with all the workshop participants.
The top festivals in the Arab world are all grouped together in this part of the year due to the heat. What are your thoughts about the region’s crowded festival calendar and the race for getting premieres?
Well, the landscape is evolving into a very rich festival calendar in the region, which is a good news. This reflects the development of the industry both in the Middle East and on the African continent. But I think each festival is very different and has its own identity. For us in Marrakech, of course this identity is what I’ve mentioned. Having all these big names and having the possibility for young filmmakers to get strong exposure and this also helps us get access to films. My personal relationship with sales agents, producers, and filmmakers that I had even before coming to Marrakech also helps a lot. I think filmmakers – whether they are filmmakers from the region or international filmmakers – are really willing to come to Marrakech because we have quite a clear editorial line, because we have a very strong and tailor-made industry program.
So the trust we’ve built with filmmakers is both due to our selection criteria and what the festival can offer them, whether it’s a regional premiere or an international and/or world premiere. This year, we have nine films being presented as world or international premieres and this is something that we are looking to further develop in the future. Since I took over the artistic direction – because this is only my third year – we’ve gradually grown to have Marrakech being recognized not only as the strongest festival on the African continent and the Middle East, but also as a possible platform to launch international films.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
