The Marrakech International Film Festival (November 11-19) has mapped out its 2022 Atlas Workshops programme with 23 projects and films selected for its 5th edition.
The Moroccan festival’s industry platform will feature 16 projects in development and six films in post-production from 11 countries. The project incubator and industry platform was launched in 2018 and was held online in 2020 and 2021. This will be its return to an in-person event set for Nov 14-17. The program aims to support the next generation of Moroccan, Arab and African filmmakers by giving their projects exposure on the international stage during the global, talent-heavy festival.
The selected participants, chosen from a pool of 240 applications, will present their projects in development and films in various stages of production via a co-production market where they can meet international industry execs for personalized mentoring and compete for awards with cash value of 106,000 Euros. The selected projects will receive tailor-made support for all stages of production from script to distribution, editing, marketing and music before participating in a co-production market alongside nearly 250 accredited professionals.
Among this year’s crop of talents are Morocco’s own Meryem Benm’Barek who won the prize for best screenplay in Cannes when her debut feature Sofia screened in Un Certain Regard in 2018, Berlin discoveries Central African Republic’s Rafiki Fariala (We, Students!) and Lebanon’s Peter Barbari (Death of a Virgin and the Sin of Not Living), Senegal’s Mamadou Dia who won a prize in Locarno Film Festival for Nafi’s Father and Egypt’s Sameh Alaa whose I’m Afraid to Forget Your Face won the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, the first Egyptian to win the award. Moroccan filmmaker Faouzi Bensaïdi will also unveil excerpts from his new film Deserts to festival directors as part of the Atlas Film Showcase.
The 2022 Atlas Workshops will also present two round-tables focused on screenwriting and a panel featuring key distributors from the Arab world. The young program has already proven to be successful. This year, seven films, including five from Morocco, that were supported by previous editions of the Atlas landed in the festival’s official selection.
Atlas Workshops 2022
Projects in development
Behind The Palm Trees (Mor)
Dir. Maryem Benm’Barek
Children Of God (Rwanda)
Dir Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo
Congo Boy (Central African Republic-Democratic Republic of Congo)
Dir. Rafiki Fariala
Demba (Senegal)
Dir. Mamadou Dia
Ghost Ship (Mali-Cameroon)
Dir. Moise Togo
Lende (Senegal)
Dir. Katy Lena N’diaye
La Mer Au Loin (Mor)
Dir. Said Haich Benlarbi
Pigeon Wars (Leb)
Dir. Dania Bdeir
So The Lovers Could Come Out Again (Leb)
Dir. George Peter Barbari
The Passport (Palestine)
Dir. Rakan Mayasi
Whale Belly (18) (Egy)
Dir. Sameh Alaa
Moroccan projects in development
Ali
Dir. Younnes Bouab
L’apocalypse Arabe
Dir. Samy Sidali
Mercury
Dirs. Ish Ait-Hamou and Monir Ait-Hamou
Les Saisons Du Silence
Dir. Abdeslam Kelai
Le Soleil Des Autres
Dir. Asmae El Moudir
Films in production or post-production
Bye Bye Tiberias (Palestine)
Dir. Lina Squalem
Cabo Negro (Mor)
Dir. Abdellah Taia
Chopped (Palestine)
Dirs. Karam Ali and Casey Asprooth-Jackson
Disco Afrika (Madagascar)
Dir. Luck Razanajaona
Inshallah A Boy (Jordan)
Dir. Amjad Al Rasheed
Or De Vie (Burkina Faso)
Dir. Boubacar Sangare
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