Jeff Nichols to Mentor Marrakech Film Festival’s Atlas Workshops

U.S. director Jeff Nichols – whose “The Bikeriders” recently made a splash at Cannes and Telluride – is set to be the official patron of the upcoming Marrakech International Film Festival’s Atlas Workshops that will see him mentoring selected projects in various stages from the Middle East and North Africa.

Launched in 2018, the Atlas Workshops are an industry initiative to foster and support the emergence of a new generation of Moroccan, Arab, and African filmmakers that provides an environment for exchanges between global professionals and regional talent.

The Marrakech fest’s industry platform this year comprise 17 projects in development and 10 films in production or post-production, hailing from 13 countries. These works have been selected from more than 300 applications received by the workshop from across the African continent and the Arab world.

Standout projects on display at the workshops include “El Sett” by prominent Egyptian director Marwan Hamed (“‘The Yacoubian Building”). The film, now in post, features Egyptian star Mona Zaki as Egyptian icon Umm Kulthum who from the late 1920s onwards became the first prominent Arab singer to disseminate her work to the masses via the new technologies of the times: radio, the phonograph, cinema and television. Another standout Atlas project – this one in development – is “Alicante” the first fiction film by Lina Soualem, whose 2023 documentary “Bye Bye Tiberias,” which delves into how her mother, actor Hiam Abbas and her family were displaced from the city of Tiberias by the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, launched from Venice and Toronto. Also of note among works in the development stage is U.S.-based Moroccan filmmaker Lamia Lazrak’s “Dar Marjana” in which she films her family in Marrakech.

“I’m thrilled to visit this incredible festival for the first time,” said Nichols in a statement. “Accepting the position as Patron to this year’s Atlas Workshops is an honor, and I consider myself lucky to have the opportunity to share in the journey these filmmakers are on,” he added.

The 21st edition of the fest is set to run Nov. 29 to Dec. 7 in the ancient Moroccan city.

Below is the complete list of projects and films selected for the Atlas Workshops.

PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT

“Alicante,” Lina Soualem (Algeria) – first fiction film

“The Last Beast of Atlas,” Walid Messanaoui (Morocco) – first film

“Flowers of the Dead” (Flôr di Finado), Nuno Miranda (Cabo Verde) – first film

“Ici Repose” – directed by Moly Kane (Senegal) – first film

“Lucky Girl” (Chanceuse), Linda Lô (Senegal) – first film

“The Orange Grove,” – Murad Abu Eisheh (Jordan) – first film

“Princesse Téné,” Fabien Dao (Burkina Faso)– first film

“Pure Madness” (Pure Folie) – Inès Arsi (Tunisia) Doc – first film

“Samir, The Accidental Spy” (Samir, Espion Malgré Lui), Charlotte Rabate (Syria) – first film

“The Shelter” (Le Refuge), Talal Selhami (Morocco)

“The Source” (Al Madda), Mouloud Ouyahia (Algeria)– first film

“Your Turn, 2023,” Cynthia Sawma (Lebanon) – first film

ATLAS CLOSE-UPS (Moroccan projects in development)

“And Still I Rise” (À Balles Perdues , Mon Âme Gagné), Djanis BOUZYANI (Morocco) Doc – first film

“Dar Marjana,” Lamia Lazrak (Morocco) Doc – first film

“Fatwa,” Mohamed El Badaoui (Morocco)

“The Field” (Le Champ), Mohamed Bouhari (Morocco) – First Film

“The Nours” (Les Frères Nour), Yassine Iguenfer (Morocco) – First Film

FILMS IN PRODUCTION OR POST-PRODUCTION

“Aisha Can’t Fly Away,” Morad Mostafa (Egypt) – first film

“All That’s Left of You,” Cherien Dabis (Palestine)

“Bardi,” – Tala Hadid (Morocco)

“Behind The Palm Trees,” Meryem Benm’Barek (Morocco)

“Chronicles From the Siege,” Abdallah Al-Khatib (Palestine, Syria)

“In The Shadows of Good Fortune,” Babatunde Apalowo (Nigeria)

“It’s a Sad And Beautiful World,” Cyril Aris (Lebanon) – first fiction film

“Laundry” (Uhlanjujujo) Zamo Mkhwanazi (South Africa) – first film

“Once Upon a Time in Gaza,” Tarzan and Arab Nasser (Palestine)

ATLAS FILM SHOWCASE (film in final stages of editing and seeking a festival premiere)

“El Sett,” Marwan Hamed (Egypt)