Rabat—November 15th, 2024. A core program of the Marrakech International Film Festival, the Conversations series offers audiences the chance to meet some of the biggest names in international cinema.
One of the most eagerly awaited events of the Festival, the Conversations program returns for a series of rich and exciting exchanges with leading figures from the world of cinema.
Eighteen leading personalities—directors, actors, scriptwriters, and producers from six continents—are expected in Marrakech this year. They are invited to share anecdotes and candid discussions about their vision and practice of their profession with festival-goers.
The Conversations program of this 21st edition of the Festival will be attended by Academy Award, Golden Globe, Cannes Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival award-winners. They are US director, screenwriter, and producer Tim Burton; Canadian director and screenwriter David Cronenberg; Mexican director, screenwriter, and producer Alfonso Cuarón; US director and screenwriter Ava DuVernay; US director and screenwriter Todd Haynes; Australian director and screenwriter Justin Kurzel; French director and screenwriter François Ozon; British actor Gemma Arterton; US actor and director Sean Penn; Iranian director, screenwriter, and producer Mohammad Rasoulof; Brazilian director and screenwriter Walter Salles; Russian director and screenwriter Kirill Serebrennikov; Mauritanian director and screenwriter Abderrahmane Sissako; and French director and screenwriter Justine Triet. Moroccan filmmakers Alaa Eddine Aljem, Yasmine Benkiran, Ismaël El Iraki, and Kamal Lazraq will be in conversation about their first films.
CONVERSATION PROGRAM
Saturday, November 30th
11:00: Justine Triet
15:00: Tim Burton
Sunday, December 1st
11:00: David Cronenberg
15:00: Alfonso Cuarón
Monday, December 2nd
11:00: Ava DuVernay
15:00: Walter Salles
Tuesday, December 3rd
11:00: François Ozon
15:00: Justin Kurzel
Wednesday, December 4th
11:00: Kirill Serebrennikov
15:00: Sean Penn
Thursday, December 5 th
11:00: Mohammad Rasoulof
15:00: Gemma Arterton
Friday, December 6th
11:00: Panel Conversation—Alaa Eddine Aljem, Yasmine Benkiran, Ismaël El Iraki, and Kamal Lazraq
15:00: Todd Haynes
Saturday, December 7th
11:00: Abderrahmane Sissako
Conversations last approximately 60 minutes.
At Meydene Theater
M Avenue (2 avenue de la Ménara, Marrakech)
BIOGRAPHIES
Gemma Arterton
Actor, producer and comedian / UK
Gemma Arterton has been a professional actor for over fifteen years, working extensively in film, television, and theater. Her film and TV credits include Stephen Frears’s Tamara Drewe (2010), J Blakeson’s The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009), Marjane Satrapi’s The Voices (2014), the series Black Narcissus (2020) and Tess of the D’Urbervilles (2008), and, most recently, Anand Tucker’s The Critic (2023). Arterton’s stage credits include Nell Gwynn, The Duchess of Malfi and The Master Builder. Executive producer roles emerged on Dominic Savage’s The Escape (2017), Chanya Button’s Vita and Virginia (2018), and Jessica Swale’s Summerland (2020); with them, Arterton found real joy in being involved with the genesis of projects, working closely with writers and directors, assembling crew, and contributing to the casting process. She is very proud to have produced the viral success (over 100 million views to date) Leading Lady Parts (2018), a short film directed by Swale and made in support of the Time’s Up movement in the United Kingdom. More recently, she starred in and executive produced the Rebel Park Productions series Funny Woman (2023), with which she was heavily involved since inception. Arterton is a proud advocate of ERA 50:50, a non-profit campaigning for gender parity in front of and behind the lens.
Tim Burton
Director, illustrator, screenwriter, producer / USA
With a style so unique the adjective “Burtonesque” was coined, acclaimed filmmaker and illustrator Tim Burton has written, directed, and produced numerous iconic films—encompassing cult favorites, box-office smashes, and inventive adaptations. Credited with kickstarting the juggernaut of superhero films with Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), reinvigorating stop-motion animation with Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and Corpse Bride (2005), putting a macabre twist on the grand-scale musical with Sweeney Todd (2007), and creating some of cinema’s most iconic antiheroes like Beetlejuice (1988) and Edward Scissorhands (1990), Burton’s inimitable work spans multiple genres, making him one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary cinema. His most recent feature film, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024), premiered on the opening night of the 81st Venice International Film Festival.
David Cronenberg
Director, screenwriter and producer / Canada
David Cronenberg has firmly established his reputation as an authentic auteur through his uniquely personal body of work as both a director and writer. Since beginning his career in underground filmmaking and the horror genre, Cronenberg has developed a dramatic oeuvre of outstanding depth and breadth, and consequently has been lauded as one of the world’s most influential directors. His films have earned critical praise and recognition internationally. In 1991, Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch was selected for the Berlin International Film Festival, where eXistenZ won the Silver Bear in 1999. His films Crash, Spider, A History of Violence, Cosmopolis, Maps to the Stars, Crimes of the Future, and The Shrouds were all selected for the Official Competition at Cannes Film Festival, where Crash received the Jury Special Prize. In 2006, the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight awarded him its Carrosse d’or lifetime achievement award. The Venice International Film Festival honored him with its Golden Lion for lifetime achievement in 2018 and the Toronto International Film Festival presented him with the Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award in 2024. In recognition of Cronenberg’s contributions to art and culture, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada and awarded France’s Légion d’honneur.
Alfonso Cuarón
Director, Screenwriter, Producer – Mexico
Alfonso Cuarón is a five-time Academy Award-winner who has written and directed acclaimed films including Roma (2018), Gravity (2013), Children of Men (2006) and Y tu mamá también (2001). Cuarón’s most recent project is Disclaimer, a series starring Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline, which launched on October 2024. In 2022, he produced Alice Rohrwacher’s Oscar-nominated short film Le Pupille, making him the second person recognized in seven different Oscar categories. Cuarón’s other credits include Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Great Expectations (1998), A Little Princess (1995) and his directorial debut, Sólo con tu pareja (1991). Cuarón continues to collaborate with longtime partner Anonymous Content.
Ava DuVernay
Director and screenwriter / USA
Ava DuVernay is an Academy Award nominee and winner of Emmy, BAFTA, Sundance, Image, and Peabody Awards. Her debut feature film, the historical drama Selma, was the first film directed by a Black woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Her criminal justice documentary, 13th, made her the first Black woman in Academy history nominated as a feature director. Her A Wrinkle in Time became the highest-grossing film directed by a Black woman in the United States. DuVernay’s critically acclaimed series When They See Us, all of whose episodes she wrote, produced and directed, was nominated for sixteen Emmy Awards. Her series Queen Sugar became the longest-running Black family drama in television history. Winner of the Best Director Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for Middle of Nowhere, she was the first Black filmmaker to be awarded the top prize in the festival’s history. With Origin, DuVernay broke ground as the first African-American woman director with a film in competition at the Venice International Film Festival. DuVernay amplifies the work of people of color and all women through Array, her narrative change studio, which won the Peabody Institutional Award in 2021. She sits on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and holds positions on the boards of the Director’s Guild of America and the American Film Institute.
Todd Haynes
Director and screenwriter / USA
Passionate about the visual arts since childhood, Todd Haynes studied art and semiotics at Brown University. In 1987, he made the medium-length film Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story ith Barbie dolls. Since then, he has tirelessly continued to address questions of gender and identity. His first feature film Poison (1991), inspired by the work of Jean Genet, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. After Safe (1995), which revealed Julianne Moore, he conjured David Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust period in Velvet Goldmine (1998), then paid homage to Douglas Sirk with Far from Heaven (2002). In 2006, Haynes had six actors play Bob Dylan in I’m Not There. He went on to direct the mini-series Mildred Pierce (2011) before returning to film with Carol (2015). He then directed Wonderstruck (2017), which had its premiere in the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, followed by Dark Waters (2019), with Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway, his award-winning music documentary The Velvet Underground (2021), and his most recent release, May December (2023), with Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, which also premiered in competition at Cannes.
Justin Kurzel
Director and screenwriter / Australia
Justin Kurzel was born in Gawler, Australia, in 1974. He made his directorial debut with the short film Blue Tongue (2005), then went on to win the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Award for Best Direction and the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Director for his first feature-length film, Snowtown (2011), which also won the Jury Prize at the Marrakech International Film Festival. His second feature, an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (2015), was selected for the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. His subsequent feature films include Assassin’s Creed (2016), based on the hugely popular video-game franchise, and True History of the Kelly Gang (2019), a new take on Australia’s notorious outlaw Ned Kelly that had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Nitram (2021) had its world premiere in the Official Competition at Cannes, where the Best Actor prize went to Caleb Landry Jones; the film went on to win an array of AACTA Awards, including those for Best Film, Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay, and all four Best Performance awards. In 2024, he helmed his new mini-series, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, starring Jacob Elordi and Ciarán Hinds. The Order, Kurzel’s most recent film starring Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, and Tye Sheridan, which was selected for competition at the Venice International Film Festival, opens the 21st Marrakech International Film Festival.
François Ozon
Director and screenwriter / France
Passionate about cinema from a young age, François Ozon first tried his hand at directing as a teenager, filming his family with his Super 8 camera. In 1990, he enrolled in La Fémis after studying under Éric Rohmer. After making several short films, he made a name for himself with his first feature, the transgressive satire Sitcom (1998), which was followed by the thriller Criminal Lovers (1999); Water Drops on Burning Rocks (1999), adapted from an unpublished play by Rainer Werner Fassbinder; and Under the Sand (2000), starring Charlotte Rampling. The musical comedy 8 Women (2002) features eight iconic actors, among them Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, and Isabelle Huppert, who together received a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Prolific director, Ozon has explored a variety of genres, juggling comedy, film noir, drama, and fantasy. His critical and popular successes include Swimming Pool (2003), Ricky (2009), Potiche (2010), In the House (2012), which won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and the European Film Award for Best Screenplay, Young & Beautiful (2013), Frantz (2016), and L’Amant Double (2017). In 2019, Ozon won the Grand Prize of the Jury in Berlin for By the Grace of God. After Summer of 85 (2020), Peter von Kant (2021), Everything Went Fine (2022), and The Crime Is Mine (2023), Ozon directed When Fall Is Coming (2024), which won the award for Best Screenplay at San Sebastián.
Sean Penn
Actor, director and screenwriter / USA
Sean Penn is a two-time Academy Award-winning actor, filmmaker, and author, and has become an American icon in a career spanning over four decades. As an actor, Penn has been nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Dead Man Walking (Tim Robbins, 1995), Sweet and Lowdown (Woody Allen, 2000), and I Am Sam (Jessie Nelson, 2002). He won his first Oscar for Best Actor in 2003 for his searing performance in Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River and his second in 2009 for Gus Van Sant’s Milk. He was also awarded the Best Actor Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 for his performance in Nick Cassavetes’s She’s So Lovely. As a filmmaker, Penn’s esteemed work includes the Academy Award-nominated Into the Wild, Flag Day, The Pledge, The Crossing Guard, and his debut film, The Indian Runner. Established in January 2010 by Penn as the J/P Haitian Relief Organization in the immediate aftermath of the catastrophic Haiti earthquake, the emergency relief nonprofit, renamed Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE), continues to deliver immediate aid to underserved communities across the globe.
Mohammad Rasoulof
Director, screenwriter and producer / Iran
Iranian independent director, screenwriter, and producer Mohammad Rasoulof’s first film, The Twilight (2002) was named Best Film at the Fajr Film Festival. He then directed Iron Island (2005), which was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. His next three films won awards in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes: Best Director for Goodbye (2011), the FIPRESCI Prize for Manuscripts Don’t Burn (2013), and the Prix Un Certain Regard for A Man of Integrity (2017). In 2019, he wrote and produced both The Red Hatchback and Son-Mother. In 2020, he directed There Is No Evil, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Rasoulof’s latest film, The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024) was selected for the Official Competition at Cannes, where it won both the Special Jury Prize and the FIRPRESCI Prize. The film went on to win the Audience Award for Best European Film at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, and is Germany’s official submission for the 2025 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
Walter Salles
Director and screenwriter / Brazil
Walter Salles is a Brazilian film director and screenwriter. Central Station (1998), his third film, received the Sundance-NHK Screenplay Award and won the Golden Bear and the Silver Bear for Best Actress (for Fernanda Montenegro) at the Berlin International Film Festival, as well as the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture–Non-English Language and the BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language. It was also nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actress (for Montenegro). Salles’s The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), a biographical film about the 1952 journey of Ernesto “Che” Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado across South America, received two Academy Award nominations and won the BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language. Linha de Passe (2008), co-written and directed by Salles and Daniela Thomas, won the Best Actress Prize for Sandra Corveloni at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2009, Salles received the Robert Bresson Award at the Venice International Film Festival for his body of work. I’m Still Here (2024), a project developed over several years, reunites Salles and his longtime collaborators Montenegro and Fernanda Torres, and had its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival.
Kirill Serebrennikov
Director, screenwriter and stage director – Russia
Russian director and screenwriter Kirill Serebrennikov studied physics in his home country. In parallel with his studies, he trained himself in directing for theater, opera, and cinema. He directed his first feature film Razdetyye in 1994, followed by Ragin (2004) and Bed Stories (2005). Serebrennikov’s breakthrough came with Playing the Victim (2006), which won the Best Film Award at the Rome Film Festival. Further recognition quickly followed: Yuri’s Day (2008) won a Special Mention of the Ecumenical Jury , the Don Quixote Award, and the Youth Jury Award at the Locarno Film Festival. The Student (2016) won the Un Certain Regard Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Dedicated to rock music, Summer (2018) was also selected for Cannes, where it won acclaim from critics and audiences alike. He returned to Cannes with Petrov’s Flu (2021), Tchaikovsky’s Wife (2022), and Limonov: The Ballad (2024), all of which were selected for the Official Competition. Alongside his works for cinema, Serebrennikov has also directed and produced numerous plays, dramas, ballets, and operas at prestigious venues including the Komische Oper Berlin, the Mariinsky Theater, the Bolshoi Theater, the Opéra national de Paris, and the Deutsches Theater Berlin. His most recent production, The Black Monk (2023), opened the Festival d’Avignon, at the illustrious Palais des Papes. Alongside his many accolades, Serebrennikov was named a Commander of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2018.
Abderrahmane Sissako
Director and screenwriter / Mauritania
Abderrahmane Sissako’s committed humanist oeuvre explores the complex relations between the Global North and South, and the plight of a suffering African continent. Born in 1961 in Kiffa, Mauritania, he spent his childhood in Mali. In 1983, he moved to Moscow to study at the VGIK, the Soviet Union’s renowned University of Cinematography, where he made his first two short films: The Game (1989) and October (1993), which was presented in the Un Certain Regard program at the Cannes Film Festival. In response to a request for films of the fables of Jean de La Fontaine, Sissako made The Camel and the Floating Sticks (1995), which was followed by Sabriya (1996), a short for the Africa Dreamings series. In 1998, he shot Life on Earth, a return to his homeland that echoes the texts of Aimé Césaire. His Waiting for Happiness (2002) won the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes, the Yennenga Stallion at the FESPACO in Ouagadougou, and the Grand Prix at the Arab Cinema Biennial in Paris. Shot at his family’s home in Mali, Bamako (2006) was selected out of competition at Cannes. Timbuktu (2014) was presented in the Official Competition at Cannes and generated great enthusiasm by becoming the first Mauritanian film to compete for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In France, the film won seven César Awards, including those for Best Director and Best Film.
Justine Triet
Director and screenwriter / France
A graduate of the École des Beaux-arts in Paris, Justine Triet began her career by directing several short films, including Sur place (2007), shot during student protests in Paris, and Solférino (2009), made during the French presidential elections. In 2009, she shot Des ombres dans la maison in a São Paulo township. Two Ships (2012) won numerous awards, including the Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the Angers European First Film Festival and the Grand Prix for Best Short Film at the Entrevues Belfort Film Festival, and received a nomination for the EFA Award for Best Short Film at the Berlin International Film Festival. Her first feature-length film, Age of Panic (2013), was selected for the ACID program at the Cannes Film Festival and nominated for the César Award for Best First Film. Her second feature, In Bed with Victoria (2016), opened La Semaine de la Critique at Cannes and was nominated for the Césars for Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (for both Vincent Lacoste and Melvil Poupaud), and Best Actress (for Virginie Efira). Sybil (2019) was presented in the Official Competition at Cannes. Her most recent film, Anatomy of a Fall (2023), won the Palme d’or at Cannes and went on to win two Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The film also won six Césars, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.
Panel conversation
Yasmine Benkiran
Director and screenwriter / Morocco
Yasmine Benkiran
A graduate of La Fémis, Yasmine Benkiran is a director and screenwriter. In 2018, she directed the short film L’Heure d’Hiver, which was selected for numerous festivals, including the Tangiers International Film Festival and the Trouville Off-Courts Film Festival. Her first feature-length film, Queens (2022), benefited from support from the Atlas Workshops twice—in the development stage in 2018, then in post-production in 2020. A feminist escapade in a truck in the Moroccan Atlas Mountains, Queens had its premiere in the Settimana Internazionale della Critica at the Venice International Film Festival before being presented at the Marrakech International Film Festival. It won numerous festival awards before its theatrical release.
Director and screenwriter / Morocco
Alaa Eddine Aljem
Alaa Eddine Aljem was born in Rabat in 1988 and studied cinema at ESAV Marrakech and INSAS in Brussels. He has directed and produced several films, which have been selected for numerous festivals around the world. Screen International named him one of the five rising stars of the Arab world. In 2019, he directed The Unknown Saint, which was selected in competition at La Semaine de la Critique at the Cannes Film Festival as well as at the Marrakech International Film Festival. In 2020, Aljem attended the Atlas Workshops to develop the screenplay for his upcoming film, Eldorado.
Ismaël El Iraki
Ismaël El Iraki studied directing at La Fémis. His first feature film, Zanka Contact (2020), a rock’n’roll romance shot on 35mm in Casablanca, had its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Orizzonti Award for Best Actress. It was released in cinemas in 2021. His next project, the thriller Wolfmother, is produced by Bac Films and is currently being financed. The screenplay was selected for development at the Atlas Workshops in 2023.
Director and screenwriter / Morocco
After graduating from the directing department of La Fémis in 2011, Kamal Lazraq directed his first short film, Drari (2011), which won the 2nd Cinéfondation Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the Grand Prix for Best Short Film at the Entrevues Belfort International Film Festival. He then directed the short The Man with the Dog (2013). He attended the Atlas Workshops while writing the script for his first feature film, Hounds (2023), which went on to win the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes and the Jury Prize at the Marrakech International Film Festival.