‘The Debut’ to Open Marrakech Film Festival, With ‘Artificial’ and ‘Paper Tiger’ Among Gala Screenings

Jesse Eisenberg’s “The Debut,” starring Julianne Moore as a shy housewife who is cast in a community theater musical and transforms into a zealous Method actor, has been set as the opening film of the 23rd Marrakech International Film Festival. Eisenberg and Moore are both expected to be on hand for the out-of-competition gala. The fest, running from Nov. 20-28, will also feature the regional premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s “Artificial,” which traces the rise of OpenAI founder Sam Altman (played by Andrew Garfield). Guadagnino is a Marrakech regular, as is James Gray, who will also be returning with his crime thriller “Paper Tiger” starring Adam Driver and Miles Teller. Other Marrakech gala screenings include two world premieres: Brazilian director Fellipe Barbosa’s “Leila et la nuit,” inspired by the life of Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui and starring Roschdy Zem and Marina Foïs; and Egyptian helmer Omar Hilal’s “His Weakest Creatures,” which pairs Egyptian stars Ahmed Helmy and Hend Sabry together on screen for the first time. John Turturro will be making the trek to present Noah Segan’s “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” in which the actor delivers a standout performance as an aging pickpocket contending with the contemporary world. The section also includes Laïla Marrakchi’s “Strawberries,” which has been selected as Morocco’s Oscars entry and follows a group of Moroccan seasonal laborers hired to pick strawberries in Spain who decide to stand up to their abusive employers. The Official Competition showcases new talent in world cinema with 14 first and second feature films competing for the Étoile d’Or, awarded by a jury headed by actor Marion Cotillard. Three titles in the competition are world premieres: Sahara-set drama “Alkebulan,” by Moroccan director Yassine Marco Marroccu; Iranian-Norwegian filmmaker Farzad Samsami’s “Waves of Silence,” a Morocco-set drama about migrant shipwrecks; and “Cairo Shadows,” a political thriller set in the Coptic Christian community in Egypt, directed by Rani Massalha e Salem Massalha. Marrakech competition entries that have surfaced elsewhere and will be having their regional premiers, comprise Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo’s post-genocide drama “Ben’imana,” that premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes; Palestinian director Abdallah Alkhatib’s “Chronicles From the Siege” depicting desperation of Palestinian lives on the front lines; Rafiki Fariala’s Cannes standout title “Congo Boy” about the musical dreams of a young Congolese refugee; and Lebanese director Rami Kodeih’s bank-heist thriller “Furies” that delves into the Lebanese economic crisis. The Horizons section featuring 21 films “that demonstrate the vitality and diversity of world cinema,” as the festival put it, including several that have won top honors at Cannes and Venice, will showcase the latest works by top global auteurs, including Ryusuke Hamaguchi “All of a Sudden”; Cristian Mungiu “Fjord”; Pawel Pawlikowski (“Fatherland”); Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Look Back”); and Nanni Moretti (“It Happened One Night”) More to come…