Marrakech Film Festival 2022: Revered auteurs and movie stars return to the cultural capital of Morocco for a glamour-drenched celebration of cinema

After a two-year hiatus due to the dreaded pandemic, the glamour-drenched Marrakech Film Festival returned to the North African city for its 19^th edition last week. As ever, a host of A-list movie stars and filmmakers descended on the cultural capital of Morocco for a week to celebrate the work of some of the finest talent from across the globe, bring brand-new releases from the 2022 festival circuit to Middle Eastern audiences, as well as provide first and second-time filmmakers a platform to present and develop their work.

The inimitable Paolo Sorrentino, one of Italy’s foremost filmmakers, was heading up this year’s jury, which also featured British actress Vanessa Kirby (The Crown, The Son), German actress Diane Kruger (In the Fade, Inglorious Basterds), Australian director Justin Kurzel (Nitram), French actor Tahar Rahim (A Prophet, The Serpent), Lebanese actor and director Nadine Labaki (Capernaum), and Moroccan filmmaker Laïla Marrakchi (Marock, Rock the Casbah, The Eddy).

From across the impressive shortlist in the Official Competition, they settled on awarding A Tale of Shemroon by Iranian director Emad Aleebrahim Dehkordi with the top prize, the Étoile d’Or, while the jury prize went to both Alma Viva by Portuguese director Cristèle Alves Meira and The Blue Caftan by Moroccan director Maryam Touzani. Further awards included for Best Director to Thunder by Swiss Carmen Jacquier, Best Actress went to Choi Seung-Yoon for her role in Riceboy Sleeps by Canadian Anthony Shim and Best Actor to Arswendy Bening Swara for his role in Autobiography by Indonesian Makbul Mubarak.

The festival hosted international superstars such as Guillaume Canet, Marion Cotillard and Tilda Swinton, while the packed programme included a series of talks with the likes of Jim Jarmusch, Jeremy Irons, Ruben Östlund, Julia Ducournau, Marina Foïs and Julie Delpy.

The Upcoming had the privilege of being there to soak up the atmosphere, capture the stardust emanating from the red carpet, hear talks from veterans of the screen, as well as sit down for some in-depth chats with some fascinating actors and directors beneath azure skies and palm trees. 

Some of our personal highlights were having the chance to sit down with the icon that is Isabelle Huppert, alongside fellow French actress Marina Foïs and director Jean-Paul Salomé, to discuss all things The Sitting Duck about whistleblower Maureen Kearney.

We also had the pleasure of speaking with the rather intimidating, but nonetheless impressive, Julia Ducournau on the boundary-pushing, Palme D’Or winning Titane.

Maryam Touzani spoke with us about her award-winning The Blue Caftan and forbidden LGBTQ+ relationships in Morocco, while Makbal Mubarak gave us some insights into the making of his feature debut, Indonesian thriller drama Autobiography.

Renowned Oscar-winning composer Gabriel Yared explained his process and working on The English Patient and The Talented Mr Ripley with Anthony Minghella, plus Australian director Justin Kurzel shared his reflections on being part of the festival jury and his exploration of male violence on screen most recently in Nitram.

Martin Scorsese-collaborator and celebrated director Paul Schrader spoke to us about finishing the Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver-starring Master Gardener, the final film in a trilogy following First Reformed and The Card Counter centred around a former Proud Boy, while Anthony Shim and Choi Seung-Yoon shared their thoughts on the captivating and award-winning Riceboy Sleeps.

On the fan-surrounded red carpet, we managed to catch a few moments with Diane Kruger and Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan to chat all things metatextual 1939 Hollywood-set neo-noir thriller Marlowe, Ali Suliman on bringing Sally El Hosaini’s stunning The Swimmers to a Moroccan audience, Andrea Pallaoro on Monica, Fatih Akin on Rheingold and Thibaut Bracq on supporting new filmmakers with the Atlas Workshops.

In addition to sit-down chats, we also heard fascinating talks with stage and screen legend Jeremy Irons (for some, eternally the unmistakably the villainous voice of Scar) on his life and career, plus two-time Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund on his interest in breaking social contracts and pushing limits through satire in his work, most recently captured in the outrageous and entertaining Triangle of Sadness, which we chatted about more in a one-to-one.

We also had more time to discuss Marlowe and Jordan’s fascinating career.

Among those honoured with tributes were the singular Tilda Swinton, alongside American director James Gray, Indian actor Ranveer Singh and Moroccan director, screenwriter and producer Farida Benlyazid. We had the pleasure of a sit-down roundtable with Swinton and long-time collaborator Joanna Hogg about their latest venture, The Eternal Daughter, a moving and genre-inflected film. Swinton was also a hot topic during Jim Jarmusch’s talk, who spoke about working with her as well as his broader, eclectic career.

While the 2022 edition perhaps didn’t provide as many opportunities to rub shoulders with the glitterati of Morocco at the many parties and gatherings that we experienced in 2018, we still made the most of our time away from the festival to indulge in the local cuisine, and get a glimpse of the city’s labyrinthine streets and bustling souks. Hitting up the Jemaa El-Fnaa main square to see locals and tourists alike gathered shoulder-to-shoulder to hear from French comedy superstar Gad Elmaleh and watch Minions 2 on the big open-air screen set up by the festival was undoubtedly a unique and memorable experience.

Check out more of our interviews below:

Our uber-talented photographer Ambra Vernuccio was on hand throughout the week to capture the special moments on the red carpet, as well as some incredible portraits of our interviewees in the luscious settings of Marrakech.

Sarah Bradbury
Photos: Ambra Vernuccio

The Marrakech Film Festival 2022 took place from 11^th to 19^th November 2022. For further information visit their website here. Check out our coverage from the 2018 edition here.