20TH edition NOVEMBER 24 TO DECEMBER 2, 2023
20th edition
November 24 to December 2, 2023
Leila Kilani is a Moroccan-French filmmaker. In 1989, at the age of nineteen, she departed Morocco to study literature and history at the Sorbonne. She has been directing films since 2000. Interested in various forms of narrative and storytelling, in her work she alternates among fiction films, documentaries, and video essays, and experiments with the intersections of genres. Her work challenges the norms of narrative cinema and filmic vocabulary, perpetually seeking to shape a channel between the non-linear principles of Arab narrative and the linearity of Western storytelling. Birdland (2023) is her second feature film.
In the hills of Tangier, in the midst of the forest, stands a decrepit house: La Mansouria. Lina lives there with her father Anis, her grandmother Amina, and Chinwiya, the housekeeper. Father and daughter share a passion for birds. It’s summer. Amina has agreed to organise a wedding for the family. Her hidden agenda is to push her family to accept a real-estate offer that will make them all billionaires. Anis refuses to sell. Worse: he renounces his right to the property. He wants to make his share an eternity donation in the form of a bird refuge. Suddenly, the tide turns: a fire, the origin of which is unknown, starts in the hills. It’s raining birds in the forest…
Director Leila Kilani
Producer Leila Kilani, Emmanuel Barrault
Screenwriter Leila Kilani
Cinematographer Éric Devin
Production Designer Angelo Zamparutti
Editor Tina Baz
Sound Laurent Malan
Music Michel Deneuve, Wilkimix
Colour Colour
Supported by 
Production Company Socco Chico Films, Dkb Productions
Founded by His Majesty King Mohammed VI in July 2002, the Marrakech International Film Festival Foundation is a non-profit organization of public interest.
Presided over by His Royal Highness Prince Moulay Rachid, the Foundation has as its primary objective the organisation of the Marrakech International Film Festival and any related events, all of which aim to encourage the creation, promotion, and distribution of works of cinema throughout the Kingdom of Morocco and around the globe.
Founded by His Majesty King Mohammed VI in July 2002, the Marrakech International Film Festival Foundation is a non-profit organization of public interest.
Presided over by His Royal Highness Prince Moulay Rachid, the Foundation has as its primary objective the organisation of the Marrakech International Film Festival and any related events, all of which aim to encourage the creation, promotion, and distribution of works of cinema throughout the Kingdom of Morocco and around the globe.