The films — hailing from 11 countries with 11 helmed by women filmmakers — include the highly anticipated ‘Motherhood’ by Meryam Joobeur, Tunisian filmmaker Ala Eddine Slim’s next project, and Erige Sehiri’s follow up to her critically acclaimed ‘Under the Fig Trees’.

On Friday, November 3rd, the Marrakech International Film Festival announced the line up for the Atlas Workshops, their industry sidebar. The Atlas Workshops will take place in Marrakech from November 27th to 30th, 2023 and, as the industry platform of the Marrakech International Film Festival, has come to play a key role in the Region, The Atlas Workshops has the mission of supporting the new generation of Moroccan, Arab, and African filmmakers by showcasing their projects internationally.

For its 6th edition, the Atlas Workshops will see 16 projects in development and nine films in production or post-production participating. The projects hail from 11 countries, which were selected from among the 320 applications received from the Arab world and African continent. The growing number of applications demonstrates the strong artistic vitality in the region, as well as the appeal of the Atlas Workshops programme and the opportunities it offers.

A reflection of the creativity of regional directors, this year's selection features a diverse range of film genres, from the horror film that marks Lebanese director and sound designer Sandra Tabet's move into feature film directing with Rabies; but also Moroccan documentary filmmaker Hind Bensari’s humanist doc Out of School; and the poetic dystopia of Fragments from Heaven director Adnane Baraka's new project, We Don't Forget (Morocco).

It is notable that among the participants are 11 female directors, four of whom are Moroccan, and 12 female producers.

The Atlas Workshops also presents a series of panels and discussions, including a conversation with Oscar-nominated director Tarik Saleh about his film Boy From Heaven (titled Cairo Conspiracy in the US), which was presented last year in the Official Competition at Festival de Cannes, as well as a discussion of the importance of film archives and cinematheques in preserving and sharing the region's cinematic heritage.

Sofia Alaoui will also present a case study of her award-winning film Animalia (Morocco) and the creative significance of special effects in contemporary cinema in Africa and the Middle East.

In parallel, in the Atlas Station workspace, professionals will share their expertise on the development of animated film projects, the international context for distributing short films at festivals and the art of pitching series to platforms.

It is important to note that participating in this year’s Marrakech Film Festival 20th edition line up, nine films, six of which are from Morocco, have received previous support from the Atlas Workshops — in development and/or in post-production. The titles are: Sofia Alaoui’s Animalia (Morocco); Lina Soualem’s Bye Bye Tiberias  (Palestine); Faouzi Bensaïdi’s Deserts (Morocco); Luck Razanajaona’s Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story (Madagascar); Leïla Kilani’s Birdland (Morocco); Kamal Lazraq’s Hounds (Morocco); Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother of All Lies (Morocco); Ismaël Ferroukhi’s Mica (Morocco); and Boubacar Sangaré’s A Golden Life (Burkina Faso).

This year's edition welcomes new talents with bold vision, including the Lebanese Leila Basma, whose 2023 short film Sea Salt just premiered in competition at the Venice International Film Festival. But also internationally acclaimed multidisciplinary Congolese artist Sammy Baloji whose current work is an adaptation of Italian auteur Pier Paolo Pasolini's final screenplay.

This edition of the Atlas Workshops also showcases new projects by filmmakers who have previously made names for themselves on the international scene, such as Youssef Chebbi and Erige Sehiri, both of whom have had work presented in the Directors’ Fortnight at the Festival de Cannes, and Khadar Ayderus Ahmed from Somalia, whose film The Gravedigger's Wife won wide acclaim.

The Atlas Workshops will unveil the first images of several eagerly anticipated films, including Ala Eddine Slim’s Agora (Tunisia); Mo Harawe’s The Village next to Paradise (Somalia); Motherhood (Tunisia), by Meryam Joobeur, whose short film, featuring the same actors as her feature, was nominated for an Academy Award; and La Mer au loin, Moroccan producer and director Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s promising feature, which was selected for the last edition of the workshops while it was in development.

The Atlas Film Showcase will also see Moroccan filmmaker Hicham Lasri present extracts from his new, highly original film, Happy Lovers.

The teams of the 25 selected projects and films receive high-quality, tailored support from consultants with expertise in the areas of screenwriting, production, distribution, editing, and music, before participating in a Co-Production Market attended by some 250 accredited international professionals. Juries award cash prizes totaling €126,000, including the ArteKino Prize. The juries were previously announced on social media, and include Cannes Critics’ Week Artistic Director Ava Cahen, Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy, and sales agent Sarah Chazelle, among others.

There are also consultants on board to advise the filmmakers, and these include Moroccan filmmaker Yasmine Benkiran, Lebanese director and screenwriter Ghassan Salhab and sales agent Gabor Greiner.

Full list of projects below. For more information, check out the Atlas Workshops website.

PROJECTS AND FILMS SELECTED FOR THE 2023 ATLAS WORKSHOPS

PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT

AMNESIA – Dima HAMDAN (Palestine) – 1st film

HOLD TIME FOR ME (SEGURA PARA MIM O TEMPO) – Fradique (Angola) – 2nd film

IL PADRE SELVAGGIO – Sammy BALOJI (Democratic Republic of the Congo) – 1st film

LA NUIT NOUS PROTÈGE – Moumouni SANOU (Burkina Faso) | Doc – 2nd film

PLAGUE (FLÉAU) – Youssef CHEBBI (Tunisia) – 2nd film

RABIES (LA RAGE) – Sandra TABET​ (Lebanon) – 1st film

RUNNING WITH BEASTS – Leila BASMA​ (Lebanon) – 1st film

THE CAMEL DRIVING SCHOOL – Halima OUARDIRI (Morocco) – 1st film

THE PASSION OF ALINE (LA PASSION D’ALINE) – Rokhaya Marieme BALDE (Senegal) – 1st film

THUNDERING SMOKE (MOSI-OA-TUNYA) – Khadar Ayderus AHMED (Somalia) – 2nd film

WE DON’T FORGET – Adnane BARAKA (Morocco) – 2nd film

WOLFMOTHER (LES FILS DE LA LOUVE) – Ismaël EL IRAKI (Morocco) – 2nd film

ATLAS CLOSE-UPS (Moroccan projects in development)

ATLANTIC MIRAGE (LA FIN DE L’ÉTÉ) – Hakim MAO (Morocco) – 1st film

OUT OF SCHOOL – Hind BENSARI (Morocco) | Doc – 2nd film

ROAD TRIP – Linda QIBAA (Morocco) | Doc – 1st film

SHEHRAZADE'S BIRDS (LES OISEAUX DE SHEHRAZADE) – Sofia EL KHYARI (Morocco) – 1st film

FILMS IN PRODUCTION OR POST-PRODUCTION

AGORA – Ala Eddine SLIM (Tunisia) – 3rd film

LA MER AU LOIN – Saïd HAMICH BENLARBI (Morocco) – 2nd film

MARIE & JOLIE – Erige SEHIRI (Tunisia) | Pre-Production – 3rd film

MOTHERHOOD – Meryam JOOBEUR (Tunisia) – 1st film

PERFUMED WITH MINT – Muhammed HAMDY (Egypt) – 1st film

THE MAGMA – Mia BENDRIMIA (Algeria) | Doc – 1st film

THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE – Mo HARAWE (Somalia) – 1st film

ATLAS FILM SHOWCASE (films in final stages of editing seeking festival premieres)

DEMBA – Mamadou DIA (Senegal)

HAPPY LOVERS – Hicham LASRI (Morocco)