American cinema’s legendary director Martin Scorsese, will be attending this year’s edition of the Marrakech Film Festival (FIFM), after agreeing to take part in the event as patron of the sixth edition of the Atlas workshops, making it his sixth time taking part in FIFM.
The director is a long-time supporter of FIFM, and so far he’s the first A-list celebrity confirming his presence, which is major considering that several Hollywood stars are on strike and therefore won’t be participating in festivals.
However, FIFM’s organization confided to MoroccoLatestNews that the cinema legend would be gracing the festival with his presence for the 6th time.
“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. 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,” said Scorsese.
Scorsese will take part in the Atlas Workshops, an industry talent development program launched in 2018 by FIFM to support the emergence of a new generation of Moroccan,
Arab, and African filmmakers and create a space and environment for exchanges between International professionals and regional talent.
This upcoming edition of the Atlas Workshops will be marked by the presence of the great Martin Scorsese, who will take part in several sessions with the project teams in attendance.
In doing so, the director will instaure a new tradition at the Marrakech International Film Festival: meaning that annually, a major figure of world cinema will be invited to be the patron of the Atlas Workshops.
Each year’s cohort of participants will bear the name of that year’s patron. As such, 2023’s Atlas Workshop filmmakers will be the Class of Martin Scorsese.
The 6th edition of the Atlas Workshops will take place from 27 to 30 November, alongside the 20th edition of FIFM, which runs from 24 November to 2 December 2023.
In recent years, several films supported by the Atlas Workshops have been selected for and won prizes at major international festivals, affirming the program’s role as a key platform for the incubation of work from the African continent and the Arab world.
At the Festival de Cannes this year, four films supported by the workshops were screened in various sections: “The mother of all lies” by Asmae El Moudir, ”Hounds” by Kamal Lazraq, “Inshallah a boy” by Amjad Al Rasheed and “Deserts” by Faouzi Bensaïdi.