MARRAKECH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL APPOINTS NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR FOR 19TH EDITION, TO BE HELD 13 TO 21 NOVEMBER 2020

The Marrakech International Film Festival Foundation has appointed Rémi Bonhomme Artistic Director of the Festival and the Atlas Workshops. Rémi Bonhomme (France) began his career in Lebanon as a cultural officer at the French Institute in Beirut before co-founding the independent Metropolis Cinema and producing the Lebanese feature film Every Day Is a Holiday (Chaque jour est une fête) by Dima El-Horr.

 In 2009, he became Programme Manager of the Semaine de la Critique at the Festival de Cannes, where, in 2014, he launched Next Step, a workshop that guides short film directors as they work towards their first feature-length works. In 2018, he joined the artistic team of the Marrakech International Film Festival as a programmer and as Head of the Atlas Workshops, an industry platform dedicated to supporting the cinema of the African continent and the Arab world. Bonhomme will leave his position at the Semaine de la Critique after this year’s Festival de Cannes to take up the artistic direction of the Marrakech International Film Festival and the Atlas Workshops.

To prepare for the 19th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival, Rémi Bonhomme will be joined by a new selection committee whose members have made their mark at the Festival de Cannes and the Toronto International Film Festival.

 Along with Bonhomme, the Selection Committee is comprised of: Ali Hajji (Morocco) is Managing Director of Casablanca-based A3 Groupe and has been General Coordinator of the Marrakech International Film Festival since 2018. Previously, Hajji was Deputy Director of the Casablanca Festival and Artistic Director of the European Film Weeks in Morocco. Farah-Clémentine Dramani-Issifou (Benin/France) is currently a member of the selection committee of the Semaine de la Critique at the Festival de Cannes and a researcher specialising in the cinema of Africa and the African diaspora. Ava Cahen (France) is a film critic for Le Cercle on Canal+ and with France Inter, Editor-in-Chief of FrenchMania, and a former member of the selection committee of the Semaine de la Critique at the Festival de Cannes.

Programming advisors: All sections: Andréa Picard (Canada), Senior Film Curator at the Toronto International Film Festival (Curator of the Wavelengths section and Co-Curator of the Platform competition). Arab cinema; Arab industry: Hania Mroué (Lebanon), Director of Beirut’s Metropolis Cinema, founder of MC Distribution, and former Chief Arab Programmer of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival. Competition: Gabor Greiner (Austria/Hungary), Director of Acquisitions at Films Boutique. In addition, the 3rd edition of the Atlas Workshops takes place 15 to 18 November 2020.

The Atlas Workshops programme is now headed by Thibaut Bracq (France), a former programmer at the Festival Premiers Plans d'Angers, where he coordinated workshops focussed on new European cinema. Bracq also developed the La Fabrique programme at the Festival de Cannes and collaborated with the Locarno Pro team as project manager.

We look forward to welcoming you to the 19th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival!