The Marrakech Film Festival celebrated its 20th edition this year, arriving at the landmark some 22 years after its 2001 launch due to the missed years of the pandemic.
Like its first year, which took place in the aftermath of the terror attacks of 9/11, the 2023 edition has unfolded in a geopolitically tense time due to the Israel-Hamas war.
The conflict, which prompted a number of MENA festivals to cancel or postpone their fall editions, came on top of the deadly earthquake in September in the nearby Atlas Mountains, which cast doubt on whether the festival could go ahead.
Festival director Mélita Toscan du Plantier says that once Morocco had taken the decision to go ahead with festival in the wake of the quake there was never any question of stopping the festival due to the conflict.
“I couldn’t sleep for days after October 7 and this is now a horrible war for both sides, but cancelling the festival didn’t make sense. It would have penalizing all the young directors who are counting on us,” she says, reading out messages of support from guests from her phone.
In the backdrop, Marrakech also navigated the tail-end of the actors’ strike as it pulled together its guest list.
Toscan du Plantier and her team still succeeded in pulling together a starry line-up, with a jury led by Jessica Chastain and also featuring Zar Amir, Camille Cottin and Alexander Skarsgård,, while other guests included Mads Mikkelsen, Willem Dafoe and Tilda Swinton.
They join a raft of acting stars and iconic directors to have attended the festival over the years,
“I’m incredibly lucky to have been supported by the festival team these past 20 years who are just as driven and passionate as I am. We all work together extremely collaboratively,” she says giving a special mention to Artistic Director Rémi Bonhomme as well as festival Managing Director Ali Hajji and President Faïçal Laraïchi.
A short film pulling together archive footage from the first 19 editions, shown on the opening weekend, captured some of the highlights.
There were images of Charlotte Rampling declaring the very first edition open; Robert de Niro tearing up as he received the festival’s honorary award from Martin Scorsese; Francis Ford Coppola reuniting with James Caan, as well as the attendance of Sharon Stone, Susan Sarandon, Leonardo Di Caprio and Marion Cotillard to name but a few.
For Toscan du Plantier, it is a bittersweet milestone, because 2023 also marks the 20th anniversary of the sudden death of her husband Daniel Toscan du Plantier at the Berlinale in 2003.
“When I saw those images so many memories came back and of course I was very, very moved by the images my husband,” she reveals the day after the screening.
“I was thinking about him all the time last night. I think he would be proud of this festival and the way it has grown.”
The Toscan du Plantiers became involved in the festival at the invitation of Moroccan King Mohammed VI, who floated the idea shortly his accession to the throne in 1999.
“Daniel said from the beginning that it was important that the festival supported Moroccan cinema as well as showing films from around the world,” says Toscan du Plantier.
“When we started there was only making four films a year and now it’s more like 30.”
Just over two decades on, it has been a banner year for Moroccan cinema on the international festival circuit with French Moroccan filmmaker Sofia Alaoui’s Animalia, winning the Creative Vision award in Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic section earlier this year; Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother Of All Lies, sharing the top Cannes Golden Eye doc prize, while Karmal Lazraq’s Hounds won the Cannes Un Certain Regard jury prize.
The latter two titles are in Marrakech main competition aimed at first and second works, for which Chastian and her jury will award the main Etoile d’Or prizes.
“We couldn’t not have them in Competition because they’re good films. I’m interested to see how people react to them and my dream is that one of the wins,” says Toscan du Plantier.
In the backdrop, the festival’s industry-focused Atlas Mountains co-financing event launched in 2018, has also helped a number of local productions at the development and post-production stage as well projects from the wider MENA region and Africa.
Looking back at the last 20 years, Toscan du Plantier says her continued involvement in Marrakech was not a given following her husband’s death.
“I had two babies to look after, and the love of my life was gone. We had always worked together. We were a team. I was broken,” she says.
“It was his Majesty who asked me to continue. I wasn’t sure, but he said, ‘I know you’re capable because you’ve been here since the very first year. ‘At the time, I thought that was very courageous of him to ask a woman’.”
Today, Toscan Du Plantier is synonymous with the festival and her network – or carnet d’addresses – and ability to secure the attendance of A-listers every year is renowned.
“It’s my job and I work hard for that. It’s my passion. I’m not sure I would be able to do it for another festival. This kind of my baby in a way.”
She suggests her fighting spirit and determination stems from a difficult childhood in the shadow of a violent father.
“I really truly learned how to survive,” she says. “I’m not driven by money, but I’m driven by passion. I think artists also trust me because I’m straightforward and honest. They know I won’t betray them or ever put them in a bad position. I’m very protective.”
One of Toscan du Plantier’s strongest festival allies over the years has been Martin Scorsese.
The director was due to attend this year as the honorary guest of the 20th edition and mentor at the Atlas Workshops but cancelled at the eleventh hour for “personal reasons”.
Toscan du Plantier suggests he needed a rest after the Killers Of The Flower Moon promotional tour which was more arduous than usual due to the absence of his key cast because of the actors strike.
“He was really excited about meeting all these young directors, but you have to remember he is 81 years old, even if he seems about 30. He was heartbroken about not making it over, but he also has too look after himself and his family,” says Toscan du Plantier, in an example of her famed protection of the stars in her network.
