This year’s Marrakech International Film Festival (Dec. 1-9) did not boast any breakthrough films spread within its exotic 22-country, 121-film slate, but the 6th year did lift the fest up another notch in the global circuit by importing an intriguing array of glitzy guests.
Roman Polanski, who had just come off of accepting a Lifetime Achievement trophy from the European Film Awards in Warsaw before the fest, was the jury president. Susan Sarandon was the main tribute, along with national treasure/Moroccan actor Mohamed Majd (who caused a diasporas ripple, as he was quoted in a local magazine stating, "It would be a mess if the organizers of the Marrakech film festival were Moroccans;” reflecting the fact that by and large the Arab-based festival is run by the French), Egyptian director Tewfik Salah, Indian actress Kajol Mukherjee-Devgan and her husband Ajay Devgan and Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke, whose film
Still Life won the Golden Lion at Venice in 2006. Martin Sheen was there to support his son Emilio Estevez’s film
Bobby, last year’s jury president Martin Scorsese (whose film,
The Departed was the festival’s opener) curated a section called
The Italian Preference —
a 40-plus film adventure through the history of Italian cinema. Even Morpheus himself, Laurence Fishburne, showed up to declare, “I love you,” to the crowd of 7,000 who were jammed into the awe-inspiring outdoor screening of the
Matrix trilogy at Marrakech’s famous Jamaa El-Fna Square. On hand included Morocco's King Mohammed VI and his son His Royal Highness Prince Moulay Rachid.
Sarandon was in fine form at a press conference, teasing the reporters, answering questions about her long-time relationship with Tim Robbins, her enjoyment of working with first-time directors (“it is the film they are most passionate about”) and her time with Ridley Scott on the landmark
Thelma & Louise. She gracefully pointed out, that although Scott was not by any means a feminist, one did not have to be best pals with the director to work within a creative collaboration. Polanski was calm and civil in his turn on the public skewer, despite the fact most of the questions asked surrounded his lack of financial and artistic success in America over the past few years. Not even his referencing the Academy Award winning
The Pianist halted that particular blather.
Sifting through a competition slate which included Todd Field’s
Little Children, Andrucha Waddington’s
House of Sand, and Narjiss Nejjar’s
Wake-Up Morocco, the jury, who was comprised of actors Sandrine Bonnaire, Jamel Debbouze, Paz Vega, David Wenham and directors Pan Nalin and Yousry Nasrallah, among others, gave their high marks to films with political content. Marrakech’s Golden Star was awarded to German director Dominik Graf’s uneven, but often very funny,
The Red Cockatoo; a 1961-set, rock ‘n’ roll infused cold war drama (the Best Actor prize went to the film’s lead actor Max Riemelt). The Jury Prize went to Radu Muntean’s
The Paper Will Be Blue; a gritty, also dark humored film that look at the chaotic aftermath in the wake of the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Best Actress was handed out to Fatou N’diaye in Robert Favreau’s
A Sunday In Kigali an account of the 100 days of genocide in Rwanda.
The festival finished off with the charming, relatively light comedy from France; Patrice Leconte’s
My Best Friend, which casts Daniel Auteuil, who is sublime as a grumpy loner who has to fabricate himself a best buddy in order to win a bet.
Labels: Festivals
# posted by Webmaster @ 1/18/2007 02:10:00 PM
