Atlas Workshops Roars Back With Genre Focus, Expanded U.S. Presence Includes A24 (EXCLUSIVE)
Now entering its sixth edition, the Marrakech Film Festival’s industry-focused Atlas Workshops can expect its busiest year to date. Showcasing rising talents from the MENA world, the production spotlight will welcome more than 200 industry delegates — among them 15 sales companies — and will co-ordinate 460 professional meetings as part of its co-production market.
And though artistic patron Martin Scorsese had to cancel his trip at the last minute, this year’s workshop will still see a wider U.S. presence, hosting a delegation of producers brought over through Film Independent’s Global Media Makers program, and, for the first time, welcoming acquisition execs from A24.
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Atlas Workshops director Hedi Zardi tells Variety that his program received more than 600 professional requests, and will organize 100 more meetings than they did last year. And given the Workshops’ stellar track record — with Atlas supported projects premiering and winning prizes in Berlin, Cannes and Venice just this year alone — one need hardly wonder why.
“The Workshops have brought a much more lasting professional dimension,” says Zardi. “[Our participants] know now that they no longer represent a niche cinema; all these films have a reality in the industry that is much stronger.”
Genre fare is equally strong in this year’s lineup, with many of the selected projects tackling sci-fi and fantasy themes with big screen flair — a trend that Zardi attributes to a generational push away from conventional, kitchen-sink modes of representation.
“This young generation wants to tell new stories,” he explains. “I find this new generation very free, perhaps because they travel more, and are more connected. They have totally emancipated themselves from a ‘social issues’ cinematic grammar, something much more focused on family dramas, much more intimate. Here, we have a cinema that is extremely visually daring.”
Of course, wider market forces have also played a role, pairing genre-savvy talent with sales agents and international distributors eager to lure a crowd.
“After COVID, people realized that the cinematic experience had to be impactful,” says Zardi. “Today, audiences are looking for big screen experiences, and these films are made for just that.”
The program director is also particularly enthused to many familiar faces at this event, as titles like Kamal Lazraq’s “Hounds,” Luck Razanajaona’s “Disco Africa: A Malagasy Story” and Asmae El Moudir’s “The Mother of All Lies” will now play in Marrakech’s main competition after receiving previous Atlas Workshops support, and with director Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s work-in-progress “Across the Sea” returning for this year’s production spotlight after winning a development prize in 2022.
“We invest in the development of projects and in the careers of our filmmakers,” says Zardi. “And we want to make this support loyal over the long term, and on all levels. We want to play a part across the full chain, being there at the beginning of development, and then through post-production, and eventually into distribution.”
Tying together those dual interests in post-postproduction infrastructure and genre filmmaking, this upcoming edition will host a case study examining the VFX work in Sofia Alaoui’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner (and graduate of Atlas’ 2020 class) “Animalia.” Though Alaoui’s Franco-Moroccan sci-fi drama tapped Gallic VFX talent, the case study will also emphasize and promote local studios and craft.
“Filmmakers are no longer limited by budget,” says Zardi. “And VFX are no longer reserved for the projects that can co-produce with a European partner; they are more and present across all productions and territories. So you can be Senegalese or Lebanese filmmaker, and if you want to imagine a film with a monster, you can do so with a partner in your region.”
Indeed, far beyond the question of VFX, Zardi believes that local projects must rethink and reshape the co-production model.
“We need to dream big, to challenge ourselves to look for new partners and build new structures,” he says. “Through our panels we want to show that all axes are possible. We’re beyond South-North [between Africa and Europe]; they can also be South-South, between African and Arab countries, or between Africa and the U.S.”
“These young filmmakers can no longer depend on the usual funds,” he continues. “If they have a Lebanese investor, plus an Egyptian, plus equity in the U.S. and a good sales agent, then yallah, they’re good to go.”
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