The 21st edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival will take place from November 29th to December 7th, 2024

THE MARRAKECH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

ANNOUNCES THE 27 PROJECTS AND FILMS SELECTED

FOR THE 7TH EDITION OF THE ATLAS WORKSHOPS

AND NAMES US DIRECTOR JEFF NICHOLS AS THIS YEAR’S PATRON

Rabat, October 25th, 2024. The 7th edition of the Atlas Workshops will take place in Marrakech from December 1st through 5th, 2024. Celebrated US filmmaker Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, The Bikeriders) takes on the role of patron of this new cohort of filmmakers from Morocco, the Arab world, and Africa.

Jeff Nichols: patron of the Atlas Workshops

A key figure of contemporary cinema, recognized as heir to the greatest of US filmmakers, Jeff Nichols has enjoyed a meteoric rise since his directorial debut in 2007. Arriving on the world stage with Take Shelter, which took the Grand Prix in La Semaine de la Critique at the Festival de Cannes, over the course of six films, spanning a variety of genres.

During this year's Atlas Workshops, Nichols will take part in a number of sessions with selected projects in development and post-production. This year's cohort of filmmakers will be known as the Class of Jeff Nichols.

“I’m thrilled to visit this incredible festival for the first time. Accepting the position as Patron to this year’s Atlas Workshops is an honor, and I consider myself lucky to have the opportunity to share in the journey these filmmakers are on. Interacting with other filmmakers is always an inspiration to me, and I hope my involvement helps them on their path to getting their films out into the world,” said Nichols.

Developing support programs

The Marrakech International Film Festival's industry platform, renowned for the consistent quality of its initiatives, expands its support programs this year, placing particular emphasis on the artistic vitality of the new generation of Moroccan, Arab, and African filmmakers.

This year, the platform includes modules that take place prior to the festival, and the Atlas Workshops will be held over five days, increasing from the four-day sessions of previous editions. This expansion enables the exploration of a wider variety of artistic and professional fields.

Launched last year, the Atlas Distribution Awards, a distribution support scheme for Morocco and the Arab and African nations, this year also features a day of exchanges and discussions seeking to optimize the work of distributors in the region.

With the aim of supporting the development of the Moroccan film industry ecosystem, this year the festival develops the Atlas Station program further with the aim of honing the skills of young.

Moroccan directors and producers who wish to connect with the international industry in order to boost the development of their projects. This year, Atlas Station welcomes its first cohort of 10 Moroccan talents, who will benefit from a bespoke program tailored for them during the Atlas Workshops. The initiative includes group work sessions, one-on-one consultations, and cross-fertilization with other Atlas Workshops programming.

A culturally diverse selection

This year, the Atlas Workshops presents 17 projects in development and 10 films in production or post-production from 13 countries, selected from 320 applications received from across the African continent and the Arab world.

This year's selection features powerful, original stories that reflect the region's cultural diversity. After the international success of her documentary Bye Bye Tiberias, Lina Soualem returns to the Atlas Workshops with her first fiction film, Alicante (Algeria). Moly Kane attends with a moving narrative Ici repose (Senegal), and Murad Abu Eisheh brings a lyrical adaptation of The Orange Grove (Jordan). Morocco is represented by Djanis Bouzyani, who, after being discovered as an actor, has moved on to directing and comes to Marrakech with the moving documentary And Still I Rise, and Yassine Iguenfer's who brings his vibrant tale The Nours.

This year's edition features new talents with bold visions, among them Mouloud Ouyahia, whose short film was presented in the Directors’ Fortnight at the Festival de Cannes, and who attends the Atlas Workshops with The Source (Algeria), and multidisciplinary director Nuno Miranda, who explores the beautiful meeting of two soulmates amid mourning and exile in Flowers of the Dead (Cabo Verde). The Atlas Workshops also welcomes the promising voices of Walid Messsnaoui, with his captivating manhunt The Last Beast of Atlas (Morocco), and Fabien Dao's modern western, Princesse Téné (Burkina Faso).

Further enriching the selection for this 7th edition are The Shelter (Morocco), the new project by Talal Selhami, who previously won acclaim for his first two feature films, and the first images of Babatunde Apalowo's current project, In the Shadows of Good Fortune (Nigeria), coming on the heels of the presentation of his previous film at the Berlin International Film Festival.

The Atlas Workshops will unveil the first images of two films that participated in previous editions while in development: Zamo Mkhwanazi’s Laundry (South Africa) and Meryem Benm'Barek’s Behind the Palm Trees (Morocco), which were selected for the platform in 2018 and 2022 respectively.

This year’s edition also features exclusive looks at images from Cherien Dabis’s All That's Left of You (Palestine), the director’s return to feature films after a notable stint directing for television series; Marwan Hamed’s El Sett (Egypt), his eagerly awaited biopic of legendary diva Umm Kulthum; and Tarzan & Arab Nasser’s Once Upon a Time in Gaza (Palestine).

PROJECTS AND FILMS SELECTED FOR THE ATLAS WORKSHOPS

PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT

ALICANTE – Lina SOUALEM (Algeria) – 1st fiction film

FLOWERS OF THE DEAD (FLÔR DI FINADO) – Nuno MIRANDA (Cabo Verde) – 1st film

ICI REPOSE – Moly KANE (Senegal) – 1st film

THE LAST BEAST OF ATLAS – Walid MESSNAOUI (Morocco) – 1st film

LUCKY GIRL (CHANCEUSE) – Linda LÔ (Senegal) – 1st film

THE ORANGE GROVE – Murad ABU EISHEH (Jordan) – 1st film

PRINCESSE TÉNÉ – Fabien DAO (Burkina Faso) – 1st film

PURE MADNESS (PURE FOLIE) – Inès ARSI (Tunisia) | Doc – 1st film

SAMIR, THE ACCIDENTAL SPY (SAMIR, ESPION MALGRÉ LUI) – Charlotte RABATE (Syria) – 1st film

THE SHELTER (LE REFUGE) – Talal SELHAMI (Morocco) – 3rd film

THE SOURCE (AL MADDA) – Mouloud OUYAHIA (Algeria) – 1st film

YOUR TURN, 2023 (À VOUS, 2023) – Cynthia SAWMA (Lebanon) – 1st film

ATLAS CLOSE-UPS (Moroccan projects in development)

AND STILL I RISE (À BALLES PERDUES, MON ÂME GAGNÉE) – Djanis BOUZYANI (Morocco) | Doc – 1st film

DAR MARJANA – Lamia LAZRAK (Morocco) | Doc – 1st film

FATWA – Mohamed EL BADAOUI (Morocco) – 4th film

THE FIELD (LE CHAMP) – Mohamed BOUHARI (Morocco) – 1st film

THE NOURS (LES FRÈRES NOUR) – Yassine IGUENFER (Morocco) – 1st film

FILMS IN PRODUCTION OR POST-PRODUCTION

AISHA CAN’T FLY AWAY – Morad MOSTAFA (Egypt) – 1st film

ALL THAT’S LEFT OF YOU – Cherien DABIS (Palestine) – 3rd film

BARDI – Tala HADID (Morocco) – 3rd film

BEHIND THE PALM TREES – Meryem BENM’BAREK (Morocco) – 2nd film

CHRONICLES FROM THE SIEGE – Abdallah ALKHATIB (Palestine) – 2nd film

IN THE SHADOWS OF GOOD FORTUNE – Babatunde APALOWO (Nigeria) – 2nd film

IT’S A SAD AND BEAUTIFUL WORLD – Cyril ARIS (Lebanon) – 1st fiction film

LAUNDRY (UHLANJULULO) – Zamo MKHWANAZI (South Africa) – 1st film

ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA – Tarzan & Arab NASSER (Palestine) – 3rd film

ATLAS FILM SHOWCASE (film in final stages of editing and seeking a festival premiere)

EL SETT – Marwan HAMED (Egypt)

SELECTED MOROCCAN PROFESSIONALS AT ATLAS STATION

Youssef AMAR – Producer

Khaoula ASSEBAB – Producer and Director

Zineb CHAFCHAOUNI MOUSSAOUI – Director

Meriame ESSADAK – Producer

Aymane HAMMOU – Producer and Director

Hicham HARRAG – Producer and Director

Samir HARRAG – Producer and Director

Safae LAHGAZI ALAOUI – Director

Jabrane LAKHSSASSI – Producer and Director

Basma RKIOUI – Producer and Director

For more information, please visit atlasateliers.marrakech-festival.com

Assets available to download here

JEFF NICHOLS BIOGRAPHY

Jeff Nichols, a writer and director born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, started his career with Shotgun Stories, a Southern revenge drama that had its premiere at the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award. His second feature, Take Shelter, a psychological thriller starring Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, won La Semaine de la Critique’s Grand Prize at the Festival de Cannes, and was nominated for five Independent Spirit Awards. Nichols’s third film, Mud, a coming-of-age film starring Matthew McConaughey, was nominated for the 2012 Cannes Palme d’Or, became one of the highest-grossing independent films of 2013, and was awarded the Robert Altman Award at the 2013 Independent Spirit Awards. In 2016, Nichols premiered his sci-fi film, Midnight Special, at the Berlin International Film Festival. The same year, he wrote and directed the biographical romantic drama Loving, which was nominated for the 2016 Palme d’Or. The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for Ruth Negga, two Golden Globes, a Writers Guild of America award, and two Independent Spirit Awards. Nichols’s newest feature film, The Bikeriders, starring Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, and Tom Hardy, was released in June, 2024. Nichols is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking. In 2017, he co-founded the Arkansas Cinema Society and serves as Chair of the Board. He currently resides in Austin, Texas.

Selective Filmography:

As director and screenwriter

THE BIKERIDERS (2023)

LOVING (2016)

MIDNIGHT SPECIAL (2016)

MUD (2012)

TAKE SHELTER (2011)

SHOTGUN STORIES (2007)