This year, the Atlas Workshops Co-production Market organized more than 450 individual meetings with participating directors and producers. The Marrakech International Film Festival brings to a close the 6th edition of the Atlas Workshops, held in Marrakech from November 27 to 30.
The sixth edition of the Atlas Worshops at the Marrakech International Film Festival brought together 300 international professionals to consult about a selection of 25 projects and films made by a new generation of Moroccan, Arab and African filmmakers. The 16 projects in development and 9 films in production or post-production from 11 countries benefited from tailor-made support through more than 110 mentoring sessions with script, production, distribution, editing and music consultants.
For this sixth edition, the Atlas Workshops awarded eight awards representing total cash prizes of €126,000. The jury for the three Atlas Post-Production prizes, comprised of Ava Cahen (Artistic Director, Semaine de la Critique – France), Mohamed Hefzy (Producer, Film Clinic – Egypt) and Meryem Benm’Barek (Director – Morocco), awarded the Atlas Prize for Post-Production of €30,000 to Motherhood by Meryam Joobeur (Tunisia) produced by Sarra Ben Hassen, the Atlas Prize for Post-Production of €20,000 to The Village Next to Paradise by Mo Harawe (Somalia) produced by Sabine Moser & Oliver Neumann and the Atlas Prize for Post-Production of €10,000 to The Magma by Mia Bendrimia (Algeria) produced by Kira Simon-Kennedy.
The jury for the four Atlas Development prizes, comprised of Katrin Pors (Producer, Snowglobe Film – Denmark), Fayçal Hassaïri (Producer, Metafora – Qatar) and Sarah Chazelle (Distributor and sales representative, Jour2Fête and The Party Film Sales – France) awarded the Atlas Prize for Development of €30,000 to Amnesia by Dima Hamdan (Palestine) produced by Tony Copti, the Atlas Prize for Development of €20,000 to The Camel Driving School by Halima Ouardiri (Morocco) produced by Margaux Juvénal, the Atlas Prize for Development of €5,000 to The Passion of Aline (La Passion d’Aline) by Rokhaya Marieme Balde (Senegal) produced by Chantal Scheiner and the second Atlas Prize for Development of €5,000 to Hold Time for Me (Segura Para Mim O Tempo) by Fradique (Angola) produced by Laura Kloeckner.
In addition, the ArteKino International Prize, awarded by the Franco-German channel, was presented to Il Padre Selvaggio by Sammy Baloji (Democratic Republic of the Congo) produced by Rosa Spaliviero, a project currently in development.
Over the course of its six editions, the Atlas Workshops platform has supported 136 projects and films, including 57 from Morocco. In recent years, several films supported by the Atlas Workshops have been selected for and won prizes at major international festivals, confirming the programme’s role as a key incubator and platform in the region. At the last Festival de Cannes, four films supported by the workshops were screened in various sections: The Mother of All Lies by Asmae El Moudir (Un Certain Regard, Best Director; Œil d’Or for Best Documentary), Hounds by Kamal Lazraq (Un Certain Regard, Jury Prize), Inshallah a Boy by Amjad Al Rasheed (Semaine de la Critique, Gan Foundation Award for Distribution) and Deserts by Faouzi Bensaïdi (Directors’ Fortnight).
