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29 November to ​
7 December 2019​

THE MARRAKECH FESTIVAL WELCOMES GREAT NAMES OF WORLD CINEMA AND PROMOTES YOUNG TALENTS THROUGH ITS COMPETITION AND THE ATLAS WORKSHOPS, ITS INDUSTRY PROGRAMME

Once again, the Marrakech Festival welcomed great names of world cinema, among them Robert Redford and Bertrand Tavernier, who came to receive tributes and participate in the Conversation With programme. The festival also paid homage to iconic Moroccan actor Mouna Fettou and celebrated Priyanka Chopra during a huge public gathering at Jemaa El Fna Square.

To continue its tour of national cinema, the festival shone a spotlight on Australia. Twenty-five significant films from the nation’s cinematic history were screened, represented by a rich delegation of Australian actors, directors, and producers. In total, 103 films were screened for 105,000 spectators. More than fifty screenings were followed by question-and-answer sessions with the aim of encouraging exchanges between guests and audience members.

New Moroccan cinema was particularly visible during this edition and saw the first films of Alaa Eddine Al Jem (The Miracle of the Unknown Saint) and Maryam Touzani (Adam), presented respectively in the Competition and Gala sections.

In parallel with film screenings, the festival continued to grow its Conversation With programme, inviting luminaries including Palestinian director Elia Suleiman, Iranian actor Golshifteh Faharani, Tunisian actor Hend Sabri, American actor Harvey Keitel, French actor Marion Cotillard, and Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, among others, to free and open conversation sessions with the audience.

The jury, chaired by Scottish actor Tilda Swinton, awarded the Grand Prix to the contemplative drama Valley of Souls by Colombian director Nicolás Rincón Gille.

Over the course of four days, the Atlas Workshops brought together 270 international film industry professionals to discuss twenty-eight projects by a new generation of Moroccan, Arab, and African filmmakers. Participants attended a series of round tables launched by French-Senegalese director Mati Diop. The theme of the conversations was centred on the writing of genre cinema in the Arab world and on the African continent. The ten projects in development and six films in post-production that participated in the workshop programme benefited from consultations with nineteen international professionals, before being presented in the framework of a co-production market that generated more than 350 individual meetings.

AWARDS

Etoile d'Or
Grand Prix

VALLEY OF SOULS

by Nicolás Rincón Gille

(Colombia,Belgium,Brazil, France)

Jury Prize

LAST VISIT

by Abdulmohsen Aldhabaan

(Saudi Arabia)

&
MOSAIC PORTRAIT

by Zhai Yixiang

(China)

Director’s Award

TLAMESS

by Ala Eddine Slim

(Tunisia,France)

Best Actress

NICHOLA BURLEY & ROXANNE SCRIMSHAW inLYNN + LUCY

by Fyzal Boulifa

(United Kingdom)

Best Actor

TOBY WALLACE in BABYTEETH

by Shannon Murphy

(Australia)

Received on his behalf by Ben Mendelsohn

JURY

Tilda Swinton, actor, Scotland – President
Chiara Mastroianni, actor, France/Italy
Ali Essafi, director, Morocco
Atiq Rahimi, writer and director, Afghanistan
Andrea Arnold, director, United Kingdom
Kleber Mendonça Filho, director, Brazil
Rebecca Zlotowski, director, France
David Michôd, director, Australia
Mikael Persbrandt, director, Sweden

TRIBUTES

Robert Redford

actor and director
USA

Bertrand Tavernier

director
France

Mouna Fettou

Actress
Morocco

Pryianka Chopra

Actress
India

CONVERSATION WITH

Robert Redford

actor and director USA

Bertrand Tavernier

director
France

Priyanka Chopra

actress
India

Harvey Keitel

actor
USA

Marion Cotillard

actress
France

Elia Suleiman

director
Palestine

Golshifteh Farahani & Hend Sabri

Golshifteh Farahani, actor, Iran,
and Hend Sabri, actress, Tunisia

Sergei Loznitsa

director
Ukraine

Jeremy Thomas

producer
United Kingdom

Roschdy Zem

actor and director
France/Morocco

Luca Guadagnino

director
Italy

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