20/11/2025 - Morocco’s biggest film festival presents its 22nd edition, including the 14 first or second features vying for the Étoile d’Or, with Bong Joon Ho as jury chair

Unspooling from 28 November-6 December, the 22nd Marrakech International Film Festival has announced its full programme line-up, which consists of 82 films from 31 countries across six sections, including the Official Competition, Gala Screenings, Horizons, the 11th Continent and Moroccan Panorama.

The 14 first and second feature films in the Official Competition will be vying for the Étoile d’Or, with the adjudication led this year by Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho, who will chair the jury. The acclaimed Palme d’Or-winning director will be joined by Brazilian-Algerian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz, Moroccan director Hakim Belabbes, French Palme d’Or-winning director Julia Ducournau, Iranian actor and director Payman Maadi, US thesp Jenna Ortega, Canadian filmmaker Celine Song and UK-Argentinian actress Anya Taylor-Joy. The jury’s selected winners will be announced at the closing ceremony on Saturday 6 December.

In the Official Competition, 11 out of 14 of the films are European co-productions. Meryem Benm’Barek’s Behind the Palm Trees is one such co-production (France/Morocco/Belgium/UK), presented as a world premiere and tackling class relations and social domination inherited from the colonial past. Some key highlights taking a victory lap at the festival include Morad Mostafa’s Cannes Un Certain Regard entry Aisha Can’t Fly Away [+see also:
film review
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interview: Morad Mostafa
film profile], Zamo Mkhwanazi’s South African Toronto Discovery entry Laundry [+see also:
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film profile] and Oscar Hudson’s Venice Critics’ Week winner Straight Circle [+see also:
film review
interview: Oscar Hudson
film profile].

Made up of nine films, the Gala Screenings section will showcase some of this year’s most celebrated films, including Maryam Touzani’s heartwarming Moroccan Oscar submission Calle Málaga [+see also:
film review
interview: Maryam Touzani
film profile], Annemarie Jacir’s Palestinian Oscar submission Palestine 36 [+see also:
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film profile], and Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet [+see also:
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film profile]. Two world premieres will also screen as galas: Sophia, a thriller directed by and starring Dhafer L’Abidine and El Sett, by Marwan Hamed, a biopic about Egyptian singer and national icon Oum Kalthoum.

The 11th Continent strand, dedicated to daring and innovative contemporary cinema that also challenges the idea of cinema without borders, again includes films of all genres and style. From Kamal Aljafari’s archival Palestinian documentary With Hasan in Gaza [+see also:
film review
interview: Kamal Aljafari
film profile] to Oliver Laxe’s rave-thriller Sirāt [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Óliver Laxe
film profile], the section includes six fiction features and nine documentaries. Other works include Gianluca Matarrese’s I Want Her Dead [+see also:
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interview: Gianluca Matarrese
film profile], Lucrecia Martel’s Landmarks [+see also:
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interview: Lucrecia Martel
film profile] and Hlynur Pálmason's The Love That Remains [+see also:
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interview: Hlynur Pálmason
film profile].

The festival’s Moroccan Panorama section continues to showcase recent films from the national context, including two world and international premieres: Five Eyes by Karim Debbagh and Porte Bagage by Abdelkarim El-Fassi. The Horizons section aims to offer a “bird’s-eye view” of world cinema from across the festival circuit, with, perhaps coincidentally, a special eye to several winners from this year’s Venice Film Festival (Jim Jarmusch's Venice winner Father Mother Sister Brother [+see also:
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interview: Jim Jarmusch
film profile], Kaouther Ben Hania’s Grand Prix winner The Voice of Hind Rajab [+see also:
film review
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interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile], Ildiko Enyedi’s FIPRESCI Prize winner Silent Friend [+see also:
film review
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interview: Ildikó Enyedi
film profile]), as well as Hasan Hadi’s Cannes’ Camera d’Or winner The President’s Cake.

Rounding off the festival’s main strands, the Tributes line-up will comprise film programmes dedicated to US actress Jodie Foster, Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, Moroccan thesp Raouya and Egyptian actor Hussein Fahmi. During the course of the festival, the life and work of the four will be celebrated through screenings of their work through the years as well as special events.