DUBAI: US director Martin Scorsese is set to attend the upcoming 20th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival – running from Nov. 24 to Dec. 2, and will take on the role of patron of the Atlas Workshops, the festival’s industry program dedicated to emerging talent from the African continent and the Arab world.
“I am always happy to be returning to my beloved Marrakech Film Festival—when I haven’t been able to attend in person, I’ve always been there in spirit,” Scorsese said in a statement released on Deadline.
“For this very special anniversary edition of the festival, I have been entrusted with a precious task: to interact with young filmmakers and help to guide them on their way. I look forward to seeing old friends, and to making new ones.”
The 2023’s Atlas Workshop filmmakers will be known as the Class of Martin Scorsese.
Launched by Marrakech in 2018, the Atlas Workshops has supported more than 111 projects and films over its first five editions.
Four Arab productions playing in Cannes this year had gone through its program, including "Un Certain Regard Best Director winner “The Mother Of All Lies” by Moroccan director Asmae El-Moudir, Un Certain Regard Jury Prize winner “Hounds” by Moroccan filmmaker Kamal Lazraq, Sudanese director Amjad Al Rasheed’s “Inshallah A Boy” – which screened in Critics’s Week and has since been selected for Toronto International Film Festival and Directors’ Fortnight title “Deserts” by Moroccan filmmaker Faouzi Bensaïdi.
