The Marrakech International Film Festival has unveiled the official selection for its 23rd edition, bringing African and Haitian filmmakers into a programme that places new voices alongside established international directors.

The festival’s announcement, issued in Rabat on 2 November 2026, confirms 76 films from 39 countries for the event running from 20 to 28 November. The programme includes 10 world premieres and 14 first or second features competing for the Étoile d’Or.

Marion Cotillard will preside over the competition jury. This is an announcement of selections and planned screenings, not a report of performances, prizes or audience reactions from a festival that has yet to begin.

### Stories across Africa and the diaspora

The competition includes Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo’s “Ben’imana”, Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu’s “House of the Wind”, Rafiki Fariala’s “Congo Boy” and Haitian filmmaker Gessica Généus’s “Marie Madeleine”.

The organisers describe stories involving Rwanda’s legacy of genocide, a Cameroonian mother maintaining relationships with children in Europe, a young refugee’s musical ambitions in the Central African Republic, and an encounter between two women in Haiti. These are the festival’s descriptions of the films, rather than RIM’s critical assessments.

The range matters because “African and diaspora cinema” does not describe a single experience or style. A festival selection can make connections between different places while still allowing each film’s language, setting and perspective to remain distinct.

Le Desk’s reporting on the selection also highlights the emphasis on emerging directors and the relationship between the public programme and the festival’s own support mechanisms.

### The opening and the wider programme

Screen International reports that Jesse Eisenberg’s “The Debut” will open the festival. Its coverage also identifies Fellipe Barbosa’s “Leila et la nuit”, inspired by Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui, among the gala world premieres.

The programme extends beyond competition and gala screenings into Horizons, the 11th Continent, Moroccan cinema, young audiences and families, and tributes. For viewers, those sections offer different ways into the event rather than a single competition-led itinerary.

Selection is a form of visibility, but it does not itself establish a film’s commercial distribution. A title on the programme should not be treated as an announcement that it will soon be available in every territory or on a particular streaming platform.

That distinction is useful for diaspora audiences who may discover a film through festival coverage but need separate information about local screenings or eventual release plans.

### A connection with films still being built

The new selection includes 12 films previously supported by the Atlas Workshops, according to the festival. Alongside completed work reaching audiences, the event therefore provides a view of projects moving through development and production.

The separate Atlas announcement, published on 19 October, schedules the workshops for 22–26 November. It identifies 30 selected projects and films from 14 countries, drawn from 410 submissions.

Those 30 works belong to the industry selection, not the 76-film public programme announced today. Combining the figures would blur two different activities.

The Atlas document also describes distribution meetings bringing together professionals from Africa, the Arab world and Europe. For filmmakers, the significance is the connection between making work, presenting it and finding routes to audiences. Participation should not be interpreted as a guaranteed finance or sales agreement.

RIM’s guide to planning an African film screening considers the practical work involved in creating those audience encounters beyond a festival.

### Planning a visit

The festival’s official accreditation portal offers an e-pass route for audiences and professionals. Its header confirms the 23rd edition and the November dates, although a paragraph still refers to the 22nd edition. Readers should use the current programme and confirm access conditions directly before arranging travel.

A selection announcement gives viewers films to explore and professionals a programme to prepare around. The next useful information will be the detailed screening schedule, access arrangements and, later, the actual outcomes of the event.

*Illustration: AI-generated film objects and an imagined courtyard; no actual festival scene, film still or venue is depicted.*

Why this matters

Marrakech can make African and Haitian work visible within a wider international programme while linking completed films with an industry development platform. For filmmakers and diaspora audiences, the useful distinction is between selection, professional participation and an actual release or business agreement. The new programme offers specific titles to follow and a reason to prepare meaningful audience and industry conversations, while preserving the different identities of the stories represented.

Sources

Topics: Morocco · Marrakech · African cinema · Haiti · Film festivals · Atlas Workshops

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