Jesse Eisenberg’s comedy The Debut, starring Julianne Moore as a shy housewife who discovers a passion for amateur theater, has been unveiled as the opening film of the 23rd Marrakech International Film Festival later this month.

It will be among 76 films from 39 countries playing in Morocco’s premiere film festival across the Official Competition and Gala Screenings as well as the Horizons; the 11th Continent; a Moroccan Panorama; Young Audiences and Families; and Tributes sidebars.

Fourteen first and second features will compete for the festival’s Étoile d’Or in Official Competition, showcasing new voices in world cinema, with Marion Cotillard presiding over the jury.

The contenders include Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo’s Cannes Caméra d’Or winner Ben’imana set in the wake of the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda; Abdallah Al-Khatib’s In Chronicles from the Siege, about Palestinian civilians trapped in a war zone, which won Best First Feature at the Berlinale, and Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu’s House of the Wind, a tender portrait of a Cameroonian woman whose children have left for Europe, which won the Special Orizzonti Jury Prize and Lion of the Future Luigi De Laurentiis Award for a Debut Film in Venice

Three contenders will make their world premiere in Marrakech: Moroccan director Yassine Marco Marroccu’s Alkebulan, an adventure film set in the Sahara in the 1960s and Italy in the 1930s; Iranian-Norwegian filmmaker Farzad Samsami’s Waves of Silence, a moral drama about migrant shipwrecks, and Rani and Salem Massalha’s Cairo Shadows, a thriller set in the Coptic Christian community in Egypt.

The Gala Screenings – which kick off with The Debut – include two world premieres: Fellipe Barbosa’s Leila et la nuit, inspired by the life of Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui and starring Roschdy Zem and Marina Foïs, and Omar Hilal’s adventure film and black comedy His Weakest Creatures, which brings Egyptian stars Ahmed Helmy and Hend Sabry together on screen for the first time.

Other highlights of the program include Noah Segan’s The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, starring John Turturro; Laïla Marrakchi’s feminist survival tale Strawberries, which has been selected as Morocco’s submission to the Oscars; James Gray’s Paper Tiger and Luca Guadagnino unveils Artificial.

The Horizons section giving a snapshot of international independent cinema features several Cannes honorees topped by Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner Fjord and as well as Arab titles that have been making waves on the festival circuit including Mohammed Hammad’s psychological thriller Safe Exit, Sara Ishaq’s The Station and Ahmed Hassouna’s Citizen Osama.

The 11th Continent program, showcasing features 13 films that explore free, innovative cinema, includes fiction films by Danielle Arbid, Sompot Chidgasornpongse, and Radu Jude, as well as the documentaries Edward Said: Between Worlds and Bedeau, Transit Camp, the latter a world premiere.

The Moroccan Panorama features six fiction and documentary films, including Tala Hadid’s Bardi, which opens the program, and three world premieres, among them Mohamed Mouftakir’s Hoods. In total, 11 Moroccan films are featured across the festival’s various sections, in addition to three films shot in Morocco.

The Young Audiences & Families section, featuring 11 screenings intended for children, teens, and their families features Jamel Debbouze presents Philippe Riche’s animated film Girl in the Clouds, while Mohcine Besri unveils the world premiere of All But My Mother, starring Omar Lotfi and Abdellah Didane.

The festival will run from November 20 to 28.

OFFICIAL COMPETITION

ALKEBULAN (world premiere)
by Yassine Marco Marroccu
Morocco, Hungary, Qatar