Marrakech Film Festival opens in Morocco with ‘The Order’

One of the Middle East and North Africa’s largest film festivals opened Friday in Morocco, drawing actors and directors from throughout the world to present 70 features from 32 countries.

The Marrakech International Film Festival, now in its 21st year, will showcase Oscar contenders and screen films for members of the public. But unlike larger festivals in Venice, Cannes or Toronto, it places unique emphasis on emerging directors and films from the Middle East and Africa.

The roster of actors and directors who will participate in this year’s conversations and tributes includes Sean Penn, Alfonso Cuaron and David Cronenberg.

Remi Bonhomme, the festival’s artistic director, said what makes the festival unique is its ability to draw talent on par with the world’s largest festivals while also spotlighting up-and-coming directors from Morocco, the Middle East and Africa.

“We pay a lot of attention to countries that are underrepresented in cinema,” he said. “We support filmmakers who have their own voice, who develop a story that is in a specific context, whether it is Iran, Morocco or the U.S.”

“But they don’t have to be the voice of their country. They have the need to have the freedom to express their own personal vision,” he added.

Among the themes that Bonhomme is excited about in this year’s films is family. Filmmakers, including “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” director Mohammad Rasoulof, are “exploring social and political impact through the scale of a family,” Bonhomme said.

The festival opens Friday with “The Order” — a thriller starring Jude Law that chronicles an FBI manhunt for the leader of a white supremacist group.

The jury competition contains 14 first or second films. The nine-person jury includes actors Jacob Elordi and Andrew Garfield as well as Ali Abbasi, the Iranian-Danish director of “The Apprentice.” Luca Guadagnino, the Italian-Algerian director of “Queer” will preside over the jury.

The films in competition include Saïd Hamich’s “Across the Sea” about a young Moroccan man’s immigration to Marseille and Damian Kocur’s “Under the Volcano,” Poland’s Oscar entry for Best International Feature.

The festival — founded by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI and is presided over by his brother Prince Moulay Rachid — plays a major role in showcasing and promoting Moroccan films and directors.

It has rarely shied away from diverse subject matter and this year will screen Moroccan films about immigration, homosexuality, bar performers and Moroccan communist Jews.