Marrakech International Film Festival unveils its official selection: 76 films from 39 countries
The 23rd edition, from 20 to 28 November 2026, has 10 world premieres and 14 films competing for the Golden Star, with Moroccan cinema present through 11 films.
The Marrakech International Film Festival has unveiled the official selection of its 23rd edition, taking place from 20 to 28 November 2026. The festival will bring together 76 films from 39 countries, spread across the Official Competition, the Gala Screenings, Horizons, the 11th Continent, the Panorama of Moroccan Cinema, the Young Audiences and Families section, and films by the personalities the festival is honouring. Among them are 10 world premieres, 12 films supported by the Atlas Workshops, the festival's industry and talent-development programme, and 11 films representing their countries in the race for the Academy Awards.
The Official Competition brings together 14 first and second feature films competing for the Golden Star, before a jury presided over by actress Marion Cotillard. They include:
- Ben’imana by Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, on the question of reparation after the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda
- Chronicles from the Siege by Abdallah Al-Khatib, on the daily life of people caught in war
- House of the Wind by Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu, the portrait of a Cameroonian mother trying to preserve her bond with her children who left for Europe
- Congo Boy by Rafiki Fariala, on the musical dreams of a young refugee in the Central African Republic
- Furies by Rami Kodeih, which explores Lebanon's economic crisis through a bank robbery
Women directors from Mexico, South Korea and Haiti explore the inner upheavals of their female characters:
- Chicas tristes by Fernanda Tovar, on the friendship of two swimmers confronted with a sexual assault
- The World Before by Yoon Dan-bi, a summer tale of first love
- Marie Madeleine by Gessica Généus, on the meeting between a prostitute and an evangelist
Other films look at the changes of adolescence:
- Eklipse by Manuel Wetscher, on the damage done by prejudice in a rural Austrian community
- Our Share of Sand by Shalini Adnani, in which a young girl discovers the injustices behind her family's wealth in India
- A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra by Jacqueline Lentzou
Three competition films will have their world premiere:
- Alkebulan by Moroccan director Yassine Marco Marroccu, an adventure film set between the Sahara of the 1960s and the Italy of the 1930s
- Waves of Silence by Iranian-Norwegian filmmaker Farzad Samsami, a drama about migrant shipwrecks shot in Morocco with Amine Ennaji
- Les Chiffonniers du Caire (Cairo Shadows) by Rani and Salem Massalha, a thriller set within Egypt's Coptic community
The festival will open with Mona, the comedy by Jesse Eisenberg in which Julianne Moore plays a self-effacing housewife who discovers a consuming passion for amateur theatre. The Gala Screenings include:
- Leila et la nuit by Fellipe Barbosa, a world premiere inspired by the life of Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui, featuring Roschdy Zem and Marina Foïs
- His Weakest Creatures by Omar Hilal, a world premiere that brings Egyptian stars Ahmed Helmy and Hend Sabry together on screen for the first time
- The Only Living Pickpocket in New York by Noah Segan, presented by John Turturro
- La más dulce by Laïla Marrakchi, which will represent Morocco at the Academy Awards
- Paper Tiger, presented by James Gray
- Artificial by Luca Guadagnino, which retraces the rise of OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman, played by Andrew Garfield
With 21 films, Horizons includes several winners of the highest prizes at Cannes and Venice, as well as new work by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Cristian Mungiu, Pawel Pawlikowski, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Nanni Moretti. It also features:
- Safe Exit, an Egyptian thriller by Mohammed Hammad
- The Station by Sara Ishaq, set in Yemen
- Citizen Osama by Ahmed Hassouna, a documentary about Gaza
- The Roses of Marrakech by Ginevra Elkann, shot in Morocco, with Fanny Ardant and Nisrin Erradi
- Dao by Alain Gomis
- Clarissa by Arie and Chuko Esiri
- The Smell of Apples by John Trengove
The 11th Continent presents 13 films from a free and innovative cinema, with fiction by Danielle Arbid, Sompot Chidgasornpongse and Radu Jude, as well as:
- Edward Said: Between Worlds, a documentary
- Bedeau, Transit Camp, a documentary and world premiere
- Nahla by Farouk Beloufa, a classic
- Tilaï by Idrissa Ouedraogo, a classic
The Panorama of Moroccan Cinema brings together six fiction films and documentaries, with three world premieres. In all, 11 Moroccan films feature across the festival's sections, in addition to three films shot in Morocco. The section includes:
- Bardi by Tala Hadid, which opens the section
- Cagoules by Mohamed Mouftakir, a world premiere
The Young Audiences and Families section offers 11 screenings for children, teenagers and their families, including:
- Girl in the Clouds, an animated film by Philippe Riche, presented by Jamel Debbouze
- Toutes sauf ma mère by Mohcine Besri, a world premiere featuring Omar Lotfi and Abdellah Didane
Screenings will take place at the Palais des Congrès, Le Colisée cinema and the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakech.
Images: © Marrakech International Film Festival.
