Marrakech builds bridges between the Atlas and the Oscars

The most exciting screening of last year’s Marrakech Film Festival took place off-site.

The president of the jury arrived in Morocco with a rough cut of his latest film, which, luckily, featured another juror. After the day’s screenings and deliberations — and months before the final version’s world premiere — Luca Guadagnino hosted Andrew Garfield at a discreet hotel to screen “After the Hunt.”

This year’s edition directly highlights the informal side of clubs. The festival’s long-time president, Melita Toscan du Plantier (who is also a producer), has once again assembled a shock jury, chaired by Bong Joon-ho, the Oscar-winning director of “Parasite”, with Anya Taylor-Joy, Jenna Ortega, Céline Song, Julia Ducournau, Karim Aïnouz, Hakim Belabbes and Payman Maadi. For a week, starting this weekend, they will discover 13 films by emerging filmmakers in competition.

“We tried to position the festival as a bridge between the great figures of world cinema and emerging talents,” explains artistic director Rémi Bonhomme. “Marrakech is a gateway between Europe and Africa, which allows us to operate both internationally and regionally. At the same time, being at the end of the year places us right in the middle of the race for the Oscars. We want to take advantage of this strategic position both geographically and calendarally.”

This year’s program features numerous Oscar-contending international feature films – including “Palestine 36,” “Calle Malaga,” “The President’s Cake,” “A Poet” and “No Other Choice” – as well as gala screenings of “Frankenstein” and “Hamnet,” and conversations with Jafar Panahi, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Jodie Foster and AMPAS CEO Bill Kramer, making his mark unmistakable this awards season.

For Bonhomme, however, this new direction only highlights what already existed.

“Guests want to be here,” he explains. “They appreciate the opportunity to meet in a relaxed setting. Unlike Cannes or Venice, where everyone bumps into each other without real time to connect, Marrakech allows for real exchanges. And as the Academy has opened up considerably to diversity, many of the Arab and African filmmakers and producers we invite are now also members of the Academy.”

But Marrakech is much more than a picturesque version of an FYC screening, trading the Hollywood Hills for the Atlas Mountains. Bonhomme also wants to take advantage of this intimacy to integrate emerging filmmakers into the global circuit.

“I wanted the festival to be a place where international figures truly engage with the region,” he says. “Because these conversations have never been more important.”

He cites Andrew Garfield, who continued to promote last year’s big winner, Scandar Copti’s “Happy Holidays,” long after the festival ended. It highlights 2022 juror Vanessa Kirby, who was so moved by best director winner “Thunder,” directed by Carmen Jaquier, that she signed on as executive producer, helped guide the film to Switzerland’s official Oscar submission and remained involved on the filmmaker’s next feature.

And he speaks with particular pride about the president of the 2023 jury, Jessica Chastain.

“After the closing ceremony, Chastain and her producing partner met with all of the competing filmmakers and committed to following their projects,” says Bonhomme. “She even told me that she thought the line-up was stronger than the competition she had judged at Cannes – which, I admit, I was very happy to hear.”

Bonhomme sees the trend continuing with new jury president Bong Joon-ho awarding the Golden Lion in Venice to “Happening” and then casting Anamaria Vartolomei, the main character, in his very next project.

Four of the titles in competition this year were developed through the festival’s Atlas Workshops incubator, although Bonhomme stresses that participation in the program does not guarantee selection. But he finds particular satisfaction in following projects from their beginnings to their premiere, and even beyond.

Building on this holistic vision – and his previous tenure at Cannes Critics’ Week – Bonhomme has strategically positioned Marrakech within the wider festival circuit. Namely: if “Happy Holidays” by Copti and “The Mother of All Lies” by Asmae El Moudir both won the first prize in Marrakech after being rewarded by Horizons in Venice and Un Certain Regard in Cannes, it is not a coincidence.

“The market is tough for first and second films,” he explains. “Even if you play a sidebar in San Sebastian, Locarno or Venice, it’s difficult to get the exposure a first film needs. Sales agents are increasingly targeting two or three key festivals to launch a film, rather than relying on just one. We’ve made Marrakech one of those essential stops, positioning films for complementary exposure.”

The Atlas ecosystem – now encompassing development, marketing, distribution and press initiatives under the Atlas Programs banner – has been at the heart of this strategy. This year, the festival introduces the Atlas Distribution Meetings, bringing together 60 distribution professionals from the Arab world, Africa and Europe.

Although not a traditional market, this influx of buyers has had a ripple effect on programming, helping Marrakech secure world premieres like Marwan Hamed’s “El Set,” Meryem Benm’Barek’s “Behind the Palms” and the international premiere of Australian feature film “First Light.”

Looking ahead, Bonhomme aims to further grow the industry, inviting megawatt stars, sales and distribution veterans, awards contenders and emerging authors to connect in the same picturesque setting – and in doing so, creating “another tool within the festival ecosystem that can have real international impact”.

“We are at a moment where it is important that international and regional films are discovered not only in Europe but on the African continent,” he says. “Arab and African filmmakers are still largely dependent on European funding and festivals, but their domestic audiences are growing. Marrakech can give these films a platform to launch internationally while remaining rooted in their region. This is my goal for the future.”