Marrakech International Film Festival

While we in Fez may grumble and complain about the "shallowness" of Marrakech compared to our beloved Medina - they certainly have some events worth visiting for. The latest case in point is the Marrakech International Film Festival, (December 1-9) which is being promoted as "an avenue of world cinema stars".

The nine-day event will pay special tribute to 1995 Oscar holder American actress Suzan Sarandon and Moroccan actor Mohamed Majd for their works and passion for the cinema. Tribute will also be paid to Egyptian director Tewfik Salah and Chinese assistant director and scriptwriter Jia Zhang-ke.

The festival offers a rich program of 121 movies from 22 countries.

Renowned Polish director, Roman Polanski, who clambered back into the spotlight in 2002 with his feature "The Pianist", chairs a jury which includes French-born Moroccan actor Jamel Debbouze, Sandrine Bonnaire (actress), Maria de Medeiros (actress, director), Pan Nalin (director, scriptwriter), Yousry Nasrallah (director and scriptwriter), Ludivine Sagnier (actress), Paz Vega (actress) and David Wenham (actor).

Besides emerging talents from Romania, Estonia, Malaysia and Thailand, the festival will pay special tribute to the stars of Indian cinema Ajay Devgan and his spouse Kajol Mukherjee-Devgan.

At the official competition, the Moroccan cinema will participate with “Wake-up Morocco” of Narjiss Nejjar and “What a wonderful world” of Faouzi Bensaidi.

The festival will feature open-air screenings in the Jemaa El Fna square, where the public be able to watch “Indigènes” (Rachid Bouchareb), “Oliver Twist” (Roman Polanski) and “Matrix” (Larry and Andy Wachowski).


Tags: Morocco Fes, Maghreb news