Marrakech film festival unveils Atlas workshop project selection

The international Marrakech film festival (FIFM) announced on Wednesday the long-awaited list of projects selected in the Atlas Workshop’s 5 edition.

23 projects, 16 in development, and six films in post-production from 11 countries have been selected from 240 applications received from the African continent and the Arab world.

FIFM first launched the Atlas Workshops in 2018, a program for talent and industry growth. The Festival collaborates with a young generation of Moroccan, Arab, and African filmmakers and provides a forum for dialogue between global experts and local artists.

This year’s event comes after a long COVID-induced hiatus, and has brought talents from all over the world to showcase their movies in front of a critical yet very appreciative crowd.

The Atlas program features new talents such as Egyptian Sameh Alaa, who previously won the Palme d’Or for a short film at the Cannes Film Festival, alongside filmmakers who have already established a name for themselves on the international scene.

Among the directors participating is Moroccan Meryem Ben Mbarek, who was awarded at Cannes with her first feature-length film, “Sofia.”

Rafiki Fariala from the Central African Republic and Lebanese George Peter Barbari will also present their projects.

From Senegal, Director Mamadou Dia will showcase his movie “Nafi’s Father,” which won a prize at the Locarno Film Festival for his film.

Another Moroccan representation on the program is from renowned filmmaker Faouzi Bensaïdi, who will unveil excerpts from his new film “Deserts” at the festival.

Before participating in a co-production market attended by approximately 250 certified worldwide film industry professionals, the 23 selected projects and films will receive individual support in the areas of writing, production, distribution, editing, and music.

In addition to the ArteKino Grand Prize, juries will be awarding the winners with €106,000 worth of prices.

The Atlas Workshops hosts a panel with numerous influential distributors from the Arab world, and two round tables that concentrate on screenwriting by retracing the journeys of accomplished directors and screenwriters.

Professionals in the Atlas Station workspace will also convey their expertise in the fields of sound, casting, working with archives, and production as part of the project.

This year, a selection of films that were supported in previous editions of the Atlas workshop have been selected for the official program of the 19th edition of FIFM.

Among the seven films, five are from Morocco.

The films are:

The Damned Don’t Cry by Fyzal Boulifa (Morocco)

Queens by Yasmine Benkiran (Morocco)

Fragments from Heaven by Adnane Baraka (Morocco)

Abdelinho by Hicham Ayouch (Morocco)

Goldfishes by Abdeslam Kelai (Morocco)

Ashkal by Youssef Chebbi (Tunisia)

Under the Fig Trees by Erige Sehiri (Tunisia)