Jonathan Demme has come out in support of Nabil Ayouch’s official Morocco’s Oscar submission and will present the film for distribution in the US.

Horses Of God is inspired by the real-life mass suicide bombings in 2003. Pierre Ange Le Pogam’s Stone Angels produce and Wild Bunch represents US rights.

The film will screen at the Austin Film Festival this month under the auspices of Demme and the Jacob Burns Film Center.

Demme and Ayouch met at the Marrakesh Film Festival last December where Horses Of God screened after premiering in Cannes earlier in 2012.

Horses Of God is simply one of the very most powerful pictures that I have ever seen,” said Demme. “Extraordinarily gripping and moving, the cinematic style is really breathtaking.

“I can’t remember being so blown away by the marriage of visuals and storytelling since the first time I saw Marty Scorsese’s Mean Streets and Bertolucci’s The Conformist way back then.”