Marrakech film festival launches Atlas Distribution Award to support distribution of Moroccan, Arab, African films

MARRAKECH - The Atlas Distribution Award was launched to help support the Marrakech international Film Festival’s Atlas Workshops in development and production in a bid to promote both local and international distribution for Moroccan, Arab and African films presented at the festival, according to the Festival artistic director Rémi Bonhomme.

“This initiative comes in response to the challenge of distributing films in Morocco, Africa and in the Arab world, to allow audiences across the region to discover the incredible talents accompanied by this program initiated in 2018 by the Marrakech International Film Festival,” said Bonhomme on the sidelines of the awards ceremony of the 6th edition of the Atlas Workshops.

The Atlas Distribution Award provides cash support for the distributors of the selected films to assist with their theatrical release strategy in at least two countries in the Arab world and/or the African continent.

The Marrakech Foundation will offer financial incentives to regional distributors releasing festival-selected titles. The grant will offer up to $5,500 per film and territory, with a global cap of $11,000 for multi-territory releases.

Distributors need to present provisional distribution strategy and commit to a wide-release — with a flexible definition of that term, given territorial particularities — within a 12-month window following the close of each edition in order to qualify for the financial help.

Bonhomme said that the 6th edition of the program was an opportunity to take stock, to see more than a hundred films accompanied by the Atlas Workshops which have found their way to major international festivals and which are participating today at the Marrakech International Film Festival.

“This year, we are presenting 9 films which were supported by the Atlas Workshops,” he said

“During this edition of the program, of great cinema professionals from around the world attests of the growing interest that the global film industry has in Moroccan, Arab and African cinema, whose vitality and energy are found here in the Atlas Workshops selection,” he added.

Morocco’s Halima Ouardiri, the director of the film “Camel Driving School” won the Atlas Development Prize.

“I’m very happy to have obtained this award, which will help me a lot for the launch of my film that will be shot in the Marrakech region,” said Ouardiri.

The Atlas Workshops is the industry talent development program initiated in 2018 by the Marrakech International Film Festival, which helps support the emergence of a new generation of Moroccan, Arab and African filmmakers and creates a space for exchanges between international professionals and regional talents.