20TH edition NOVEMBER 24 TO DECEMBER 2, 2023
20th edition
November 24 to December 2, 2023
French-Moroccan director Simone Bitton has directed numerous documentary films that have contributed to a better understanding of the current events, histories, and cultures of the Middle East and North Africa. She is committed to maintaining formal rigor and an assumed personal perspective. Her films have been selected for and won awards at prestigious festivals and she is the winner of the 2024 Scam’s Charles Brabant Award for her life’s work. Among her most notable films are Ziyara (2020), Wall (2004), Rachel (2009), Ben Barka, the Moroccan Equation (2001), Mahmoud Darwich: As the Land Is the Language (1988), Palestine, Story of a Land (1993), and Great Voices of Arabic Music (1990).
A former communist leader and activist for Moroccan independence, Edmond Amran Elmaleh left behind a vast body of literary work that masterfully articulates personal and collective memory. This cinematic letter, addressed to Elmaleh by director Simone Bitton, weaves together excerpts from the writer’s texts, testimonies, and archival images, and the filmmaker’s own words to illustrate the memory of a captivating and erudite man haunted by the parallel tragedies of the departure of Jews from Morocco and the exodus of Palestinians uprooted from their land.
Director Simone Bitton
Producer Merième Addou, Karim Aitouna
Screenwriter Simone Bitton
Cinematographer Mohamed Ali Essaghraoui
Production Designer
Art Director
Editor Caroline Beuret
Sound Abdelmonnaime Ennokra
Music
Color Color
Production Company Iris Prod, Haut Les Mains productions
International Sales Company
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.