Kleber Mendonça Filho, a Brazilian director whose recent film “The Secret Agent” achieved international recognition including Academy Award nominations, has been appointed as patron of the Atlas Workshops at the Marrakech Film Festival. In this mentoring role, Filho will guide emerging filmmakers participating in the professional development platform dedicated to Moroccan, Arab and African cinema.
Filho’s career has established him as a significant figure in international cinema. His earlier works “Neighboring Sounds,” “Aquarius” and “Bacurau on the Map” garnered critical attention, with the latter winning the Jury Prize at Cannes. “The Secret Agent” built upon this trajectory by winning the best director award at Cannes, followed by two Golden Globe awards and four Academy Award nominations in the current year.
The 9th edition of the Atlas Workshops will feature 30 selected projects and films across three categories. Fourteen projects in development include twelve fiction films and two documentaries, with six marking debut feature-length efforts from their respective filmmakers. The program includes eleven films in production or post-production, incorporating five debut features, and five Moroccan projects in the Atlas Close-Ups section. Participants represent fourteen countries including Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Cabo Verde and Libya.
The selection process drew from 320 projects in development and 90 films in production or post-production. Several participating filmmakers have already achieved recognition in the industry, including Amjad Abu Alala, Laila Abbas, Meryem Benm’Barek, Sofia Alaoui and Yasmine Benkiran. Additionally, four of the films in production or post-production previously received support from earlier editions of the Atlas Workshops.
The Atlas Programs, established in 2018, encompasses multiple professional initiatives including Atlas Station for young Moroccan professionals, Atlas Press for film criticism development, and Atlas Distribution Meetings connecting industry professionals across Africa, the Arab world and Europe. The workshops take place from November 22-26, with Atlas Press sessions extending through November 27.
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