20TH edition NOVEMBER 24 TO DECEMBER 2, 2023
20th edition
November 24 to December 2, 2023
Nabil Ayouch is a director and producer whose films often spotlight marginalized characters, as seen in Ali Zaoua (1999), Horses of God (2012), and Much Loved (2015). In 2021, Ayouch’s Casablanca Beats was selected for the Official Competition at the Festival de Cannes, a first for a Moroccan film. In 2022, he produced Maryam Touzani’s The Blue Caftan, which won more than sixty awards, including the Jury Prize at the Marrakech International Film Festival, and became the highest-grossing Moroccan film worldwide. In 2024, Everybody Loves Touda was presented in the Official Competition at Cannes and was selected to represent Morocco at the Academy Awards. Ayouch is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Impressionable Touda only dreams of one thing: becoming a sheikha, a respected traditional Moroccan performer empowered by the lyrics of the fierce female poets who came before her with their songs of resistance, love, and emancipation. Performing every evening in provincial bars under the lustful gaze of men, Touda sets her sights on leaving her small village for the bright lights of Casablanca, where she hopes to be recognized as a true artist and secure a better future for herself and her son.
Director Nabil Ayouch
Producer Nabil Ayouch, Amine Benjelloun
Screenwriter Nabil Ayouch, Maryam Touzani
Cinematographer Virginie Surdej
Production Designer Eve Martin, Samir Issoum
Editor Nicolas Rumpl, Yassir Hamani
Sound Nassim El Mounabbih, Said Radi
Music Flemming Nordkrog
Color Color
Production Company Les Films du Nouveau Monde, Ali n’ Productions, Velvet Films, Snowglobe, Viking Film, Staer
International Sales Company mk2 Films
Distributor Concept Mena
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.