Marrakech festival announces Coppola-led jury
Cannes film fest laureate Audiard tackles western
LOS ANGELES, Nov 10, (Agencies): The 15th edition of the Marrakech Intl Film Festival — one of the biggest events in Africa and the Arab world — has announced the nine members of its festival jury, presided over by Francis Ford Coppola.
Coppola follows in the footsteps of Marrakech’s list of prestigious jury presidents, which has included Martin Scorsese in 2013 and Isabelle Huppert in 2014.
Coppola will be joined by helmers Anton Corbijn (Netherlands, “Life”), Jean-Pierre Jeunet (France, “The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet”), Naomi Kawase (Japan, “Still the Water”), Thomas Vinterberg (Denmark, “Far From the Madding Crowd”), actor-director Sergio Castellitto (Italy, “You Can’t Save Yourself Alone”), actress-producer Olga Kurylenko (Ukraine, “A Perfect Day”), and thesps Richa Chadda (India, “Gangs of Wasseypur”) and Amal Ayouch (Morocco, “The Gospel of Mark”).
Comprising In previous editions, jury members and guest directors have participated in master classes and talks to audiences comprising local film students.
In order to encourage budding Moroccan filmmakers the fest includes the Cinecoles short film competition, now in its sixth edition, whose five-person jury has also been unveiled: Jury president is Belgian writer-director Joachim Lafosse (“The White Knights”), who is joined by actress-directors Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (France/Italy, “Latin Lover”) and Valeria Golino (Italy, “An Italian Name”), Moroccan helmer Saad Charaibi (“Femmes en Miroirs”) and thesps Anais Demoustier (France, “Marguerite et Julien”) and Niels Schneider (Canada/France, “Kokoro”).
The festival’s full line-up, including the competition pics, is expected to be announced shortly.
Highlights of this year’s edition include a tribute to Canadian cinema — including films by Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg, James Cameron and Denis Arcand — and a major Canadian delegation is slated to attend.
The 15th edition of the Marrakech Intl. Film Festival runs Dec. 4-12.
After winning top honors at the Cannes Film Festival for his refugee movie, French filmmaker
is now working on a western set during the California Gold Rush.
“What I like about westerns and which you find in ‘The Sisters Brothers,’ is the birth of democracy, the end of savagery, where you leave your guns at the village entrance,” Audiard told AFP.
The director spoke in Los Angeles, where he was presenting “Dheepan,” which captured the Palme d’Or prize at Cannes.
Audiard’s new project is an adaptation of a book by Canadian author and recounts the story of two brothers — Eli and Charlie Sisters — hired to kill a prospector who has stolen from their boss.
The story takes place in Oregon and California during the Gold Rush in 1851.
“That period was incredibly savage,” said the 63-year-old director, who hopes to begin filming what will be his first Englishlanguage project next summer.
“Nothing was off-limits then,” he added. “One killed his father, mother, children, in the quest for money and I think this can resonate (with what we see happening in today’s society).” The film will star US actor
whose production company bought the rights to the novel.
“If I am able to push ahead, I will have a script by the end of December and shoot this summer,” said Audiard, whose film credits include “The Beat That My Heart Skipped,” “Rust and Bone” and “A Prophet.”
“Dheepan” is about a former Sri Lankan soldier’s struggles in a French housing project after fleeing the separatist war.
Audiard, whose father Michel Audiard is also an acclaimed screenwriter and film director, said the prize had not particularly opened doors for him.
“I always say that I am privileged and the Palme doesn’t change much except that you suddenly find yourself part of a club that you always watched from afar,” he said. And besides, Audiard added as he drew on a cigarette, the Cannes prize doesn’t seem to impress much in Hollywood.
“Over here what counts are the Golden Globes and the Oscars,” he said.