Marrakech Film Festival has unveiled a starry lineup for this year’s conversations program, including Jodie Foster, Guillermo del Toro and Bong Joon Ho.
The Moroccan fest, which runs from Nov. 28 to Dec. 6, will also host talks with “The Matrix” actor Laurence Fishburne; “Blonde” director Andrew Dominik; “It Was Just an Accident” helmer and this year’s Palme d’Or winner director Jafar Panahi; Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer; “The Secret Agent” director Kleber Mendonça Filho; Bollywood director Karan Johan; Lebanese director and actor Nadine Labaki; “A Prophet” actor Tahar Rahim; and Egyptian actor Yousra.
Two panel discussions have also been revealed. The first pairs French-Belgian actor Virginie Efira, who won the César Award for best actress for her performance in “Revoir Paris” (2022), with Italian-French actor and singer Chiara Mastroianni, who won the Un Certain Regard best actress award at Cannes for “Chambre 212” (2021). Together, Efira and Mastroianni will discuss “the acting profession, freedom in roles and how cinema sheds light on our relationship with the world,” according to a press release. The second will be between director Asmae El Moudir, who won the Un Certain Regard award for best director at Cannes for “The Mother of All Lies” (2023), and “A Way Home” helmer Karima Saïdi. Titled “Filming Memory: Between Collective History and the Intimate,” the conversation will explore “how Moroccan documentaries explore memory, exile and social change through personal narratives.”
The lineup for this year’s Marrakech Film Festival includes Foster’s “A Private Life,” del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” Gus Van Sant’s “Dead Man’s Wire,” Chloe Zhao’s “Hamnet” and more. Bong is serving as the jury president.
