Monica Bellucci The 23rd Marrakech International Film Festival invites filmmakers and actors to talk about the encounters, risks and doubts behind their careers.
The Marrakech International Film Festival is inviting audiences to see a more intimate side of filmmaking through its Conversations program. The aim is to show that behind every film lies a story not seen on the screen: pivotal encounters, intuitions, risks taken, occasional doubts, and the passion that drives artists to give their lives to cinema.
Now one of the festival’s most anticipated events, the Conversations let audiences meet the personalities shaping contemporary cinema, the organizers said in a press release. Guest filmmakers and actors sidestep clichéd speeches and promotional stunts and open up spontaneously about the moments that shaped their careers.
For its 23rd edition, the festival brings together leading figures from the international film world. Among them are Jeff Goldblum and John Turturro, whom the festival also honors this year in its Tribute program. Goldblum looks back on a career of nearly six decades, from The Fly to Jurassic Park and the recent Wicked. Turturro, a perennial favorite of the Coen brothers and a regular collaborator of Spike Lee, discusses a career that spans independent films, major Hollywood productions and his own work as a director.
Monica Bellucci reflects on a career that runs from The Apartment, Malèna and Irreversible to The Matrix and Spectre, most recently in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. She also talks about working across countries and languages. James Gray, whose films explore family ties, origins and thwarted dreams, shares his view of cinema and of his portrayals of the United States, from Little Odessa to Armageddon Time and Paper Tiger, which the festival presents this year.
Romanian director Cristian Mungiu won his second Palme d’Or at Cannes for Fjord this past May, nineteen years after 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. He reflects on work rooted in the social realities and moral dilemmas of our time. Moroccan director Laïla Marrakchi, whose Marock left its mark on Moroccan cinema, talks about making work on family relationships, social conventions and individual freedom. Her film Strawberries screens at this year’s festival. Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, behind Call Me by Your Name and Challengers, discusses his career and Artificial, which also screens.
Xavier Dolan burst onto the scene at nineteen with I Killed My Mother and went on to win the Jury Prize at Cannes for Mommy and the Grand Prix for It’s Only the End of the World. He looks back on his rise. Rian Johnson, whose Knives Out and Glass Onion reinvented the whodunit, shares his passion for storytelling and unpredictable characters, from Brick and Looper to Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Gilles Lellouche discusses his career as a director, from Narco to Sink or Swim and Beating Hearts, both presented at Cannes. Arthur Harari, who won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Anatomy of a Fall, co-written with Justine Triet, reflects on a career marked by a taste for complex characters and extraordinary destinies.
Together, the organizers said, the guests offer a comprehensive overview of the sensibilities shaping contemporary cinema, with a wide range of approaches to depicting the world, examining society and moving audiences.
The 23rd edition runs November 20 to 28, with 76 films from 39 countries. Fourteen first and second features compete in the Official Competition for the Étoile d’Or, and the festival opens with The Debut, a comedy by Jesse Eisenberg starring Julianne Moore. Actress Marion Cotillard presides over the jury.
