The 21st Marrakech International Film Festival, which will unspool from 29 November-7 December, has just announced the 70 films from 32 countries that will screen across the component sections of the Moroccan event. Twelve of these works were supported by the festival’s industry programme, the Atlas Workshops, an initiative launched in 2018.

The festival also revealed its jury, with Italian director Luca Guadagnino as president, taking over from previous appointee Thomas Vinterberg. The jury is completed by Iranian director Ali Abbasi, Indian helmer Zoya Akhtar, US actor Patricia Arquette, Belgian thesp Virginie Efira, Australian actor Jacob Elordi, British-US actor Andrew Garfield, Moroccan thesp Nadia Kounda and Argentinian director Santiago Mitre.

The Official Competition, composed of debut or sophomore films, features 14 titles vying for the Étoile d’Or, 12 of which are European productions or co-productions. The selection includes Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s Across the Sea [+lee también:
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entrevista: Saïd Hamich Benlarbi
ficha de la película] (France/Morocco/Belgium), Huo Xin’s Bound in Heaven (China), Silvina Schnicer's The Cottage (Argentina/Brazil/Spain/Chile, international premiere), Scandar Copti’s Happy Holidays [+lee también:
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entrevista: Scandar Copti
ficha de la película] (Palestine/Germany/France/Italy/Qatar), Neo Sora's Happyend (Japan/USA), Laura Piani's Jane Austen Wrecked My Life [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (France), The Maw Naing's Ma–Cry of Silence (Myanmar/Singapore/France/Norway/South Korea/Qatar), Murat Firatoǧlu's One of Those Days When Hemme Dies [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (Turkey), Muhammed Hamdy's Perfumed with Mint [+lee también:
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entrevista: Muhammed Hamdy
ficha de la película] (Egypt/Qatar/Tunisia/France), Dania Reymond-Boughenou's Silent Storms [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (France/Belgium, international premiere), Hind Meddeb's Sudan, Remember Us [+lee también:
entrevista: Hind Meddeb
ficha de la película] (France/Tunisia/Qatar), Damian Kocur's Under the Volcano [+lee también:
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entrevista: Damian Kocur
ficha de la película] (Poland), Mo Harawe's The Village Next to Paradise [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (Austria/France/Germany/Somalia) and Gabrielle Brady’s The Wolves Always Come at Night [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (Australia/Mongolia/Germany).

The gathering will kick off with Justin Kurzel’s crime-thriller The Order (Canada), toplined by Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult. The film will be presented as part of the Gala Screenings section, which consists of seven works in total. Kurzel returns to the festival as a former jury member, also having secured the event’s Jury Prize (second prize) in 2011 for his first film, Snowtown. The Gala Screenings section also boasts Mohammad Rasoulof’s critical darling and Germany’s Oscars submission The Seed of the Sacred Fig [+lee también:
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entrevista: Mohammad Rasoulof
ficha de la película] (Germany/France/Iran) as well as Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (Brazil/France), Brazil’s Oscars hopeful.

The Special Screenings selection will comprise 15 films, many of which have already been acclaimed at other festivals. These include the Cannes Grand Prix winner All We Imagine as Light [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Payal Kapadia (France/India/Netherlands/Luxembourg), Bird [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Andrea Arnold (UK), Conclave [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Edward Berger (USA/UK), On Becoming a Guinea Fowl [+lee también:
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entrevista: Rungano Nyoni, Susan Chardy
ficha de la película] by Rungano Nyoni (Zambia/UK), To a Land Unknown [+lee también:
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entrevista: Mahdi Fleifel
ficha de la película] by Mahdi Fleifel (UK/Palestine/France/Greece/Netherlands/Germany/Qatar/Saudi Arabia) and Who Do I Belong To [+lee también:
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entrevista: Meryam Joobeur
ficha de la película] by Meryam Joobeur (Tunisia/France/Canada). Fanon by Jean-Claude Barny (France/Luxembourg/Canada) will also enjoy its world premiere in this strand.

The 11th Continent programme includes 13 innovative films that aim to unsettle representations of territory, including Grand Tour [+lee también:
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entrevista: Marta Donzelli y Gregorio …
entrevista: Miguel Gomes
ficha de la película] by Miguel Gomes (Portugal/Italy/France), The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Inadelso Cossa (Mozambique/France/Germany/Portugal/Netherlands/Norway) and Universal Language by Matthew Rankin (Canada). The Moroccan Panorama strand features five movies, three of which are European co-productions: Simone Bitton’s Les Mille et un Jours du Hajj Edmond (Morocco/France, world premiere), Jawad Rhalib’s Since I Was Born [+lee también:
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entrevista: Jawad Rhalib
ficha de la película] (Belgium/Morocco, international premiere) and Samira El Mouzghibati’s (Y)our Mother [+lee también:
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entrevista: Samira El Mouzghibati
ficha de la película] (Belgium/France). Three tribute programmes to David Cronenberg, Sean Penn and late Moroccan star Naïma Elmcherqui as well as seven films from the Cinema for Young Audiences and Families section round off the selection.