Jesse Eisenberg’s ‘The Debut’ to Open Marrakech Film Festival
Julianne Moore stars in the opening night feature for the November event, which also screens new works by Luca Guadagnino and James Gray.
By Ryan Davidson ·
Jesse Eisenberg will direct the opening night film for the 23rd Marrakech International Film Festival. The feature, titled The Debut, stars Julianne Moore as a reserved housewife who joins a community theater production and undergoes a transformation into an intense Method actor. Both Eisenberg and Moore are expected to attend the out-of-competition gala screening.
The festival takes place from November 20 to 28. It marks the first major international screening for several recent releases. Luca Guadagnino brings his film Artificial to the event for its regional premiere. The movie traces the rise of OpenAI founder Sam Altman, a role played by Andrew Garfield. Guadagnino has attended the festival in previous years. James Gray will also return with his crime thriller Paper Tiger, which stars Adam Driver and Miles Teller.
Additional gala screenings include two world premieres. Brazilian director Fellipe Barbosa presents Leila et la nuit, a film inspired by the life of Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui. The cast includes Roschdy Zem and Marina Foïs. Egyptian director Omar Hilal premieres His Weakest Creatures, which pairs actors Ahmed Helmy and Hend Sabry on screen for the first time.
John Turturro will present Noah Segan’s The Only Living Pickpocket in New York. Turturro plays an aging pickpocket in the film. The section also features Strawberries by Laïla Marrakchi. This film has been selected as Morocco’s entry for the Academy Awards. It follows Moroccan seasonal laborers in Spain who confront their abusive employers.
The official competition includes 14 first and second feature films competing for the Étoile d’Or. Actor Marion Cotillard will head the jury. Three titles in this category are world premieres. These include Alkebulan, a Sahara-set drama by Moroccan director Yassine Marco Marroccu. Farzad Samsami’s Waves of Silence is a Morocco-set drama about migrant shipwrecks. Rani Massalha and Salem Massalha direct Cairo Shadows, a political thriller set in the Coptic Christian community in Egypt.
Other competition entries include works that premiered at other festivals. Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo’s Ben’imana screened in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section. Abdallah Alkhatib’s Chronicles From the Siege depicts life on the front lines in Palestine. Rafiki Fariala’s Congo Boy tells the story of a young Congolese refugee. Rami Kodeih’s Furies is a bank-heist thriller set against the Lebanese economic crisis.
The Horizons section will screen 21 films. This lineup includes recent winners from Cannes and Venice. New works from directors Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Cristian Mungiu, Pawel Pawlikowski, Hirokazu Kore-eda, and Nanni Moretti are on the slate. Arab cinema features in this section with titles such as Safe Exit by Mohammed Hammad and The Station by Sara Ishaq.
