Cristian Mungiu Set As Patron Of Marrakech Atlas Workshops Featuring New Films By Scandar Copti, Asmae El Moudir, Mounia Akl & Amjad Al Rasheed

Cannes Palme d’Or winning Romanian director Cristian Mungiu has been named as the 2025 patron of the Marrakech International Film Festival’s Atlas Workshops, following in the footsteps of Jeff Nichols last year.
 
Regarded as a major figure in contemporary European auteur cinema, Mungiu won the Palme d’Or in 2007 for 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, with other award-winning films including Beyond the Hills, Graduation, and R.M.N..

Created in 2018, the Atlas Workshops are the heart of the Atlas Programs, Marrakech’s recently created banner gathering all the professional initiatives supported by the festival foundation.
 
As the patron of the workshops, Mungiu will mentor the 28 projects in this year’s selection, with their directors known as the “Class of Cristian Mungiu”.
 
“I am very happy to get back to Marrakech, a vibrant festival that uses the power of cinema to promote and unite people from different corners of the world,” said Mungiu.
 
“I gladly accept the position of Patron of the Atlas Workshops for 2025, hoping that from this encounter, both the filmmakers I am going to meet and I myself will have a lot to learn. I believe cinema is a great tool for investigating reality and getting to know the Other despite all stereotypes, and that we should use it as a tool to help us focus on what unites us rather than on differences of opinions we might have,” said Mungiu.

 
This year’s selection spans 12 projects in development, 10 films of which are shooting or in post-production; five first Moroccan fiction features in development in the Atlas Close-Ups sidebar and one Moroccan feature nearing completion and seeking a festival premiere in the Atlas Film Showcase section.

Projects in development include A Childhood by Palestinian director Scandar Copti, who won Marrakech’s top prize, the Étoile d’Or, last year for Happy Holidays; Hold Me (If You Want), the second feature from Lebanese actress and director Mounia Akl after Costa Brava, Lebanon, and Under Her Eye by Jordan’s Amjad Al Rasheed, his second feature after Inshallah A Boy.

The line-up devoted to the films that are shooting or in post-production includes documentary Don’t Let The Sun Go Up On Me by Asmae El Moudir [pictured above], who made history at the festival in 2023 as the first Moroccan director to win the Étoile d’Or with her Cannes-feted film The Mother of All Lies.

Other highlights of that section include Lebanese director Rami Kodeih’s highly anticipated bank heist drama Wolves.

Additonally, the workshops’ Atlas Station 2025 sidebar, which is billed as a springboard for young Moroccan producers and directors, will support seven emerging Moroccan film professionals as well as four short films.

The 2025 Selection

Projects in development
AKAL – Basma Rkioui (Morocco) | 1^st feature documentary
CHAPA 100 – Ique Langa (Mozambique) | 2^nd fiction feature
CHENTIAN – Suha Arraf (Palestine) | 2^nd fiction feature
A CHILDHOOD – Scandar Copti (Palestine) | 3^rd feature documentary
LES DIEUX DÉLINQUANTS – Boubacar Sangaré (Burkina Faso) | 1^st fiction feature
HOLD ME (IF YOU WANT) – Mounia Akl (Lebanon) | 2^nd fiction feature
LAST COW – Amil Shivji (Tanzania) | 2^nd fiction feature
THE MARCHES – Vatche Boulghourjian (Lebanon) | 2^nd fiction feature
SIMÉON IDRISS – Zineb Wakrim (Morocco) | 1^st fiction feature
UNDER GREEN SKIES – Jad Chahine (Egypt) | 1^st fiction feature
UNDER HER EYE – Amjad Al Rasheed (Jordan) | 2^nd fiction feature
VANDA – Kamy Lara (Angola) | 1^st fiction feature

Films Shooting or In Development
DON’T LET THE SUN GO UP ON ME – Asmae El Moudir (Morocco) | 2^nd feature documentary
GOMA ENOUGH IS ENOUGH (GOMA TROP C’EST TROP) – Elisé Sawasawa (Democratic Republic of the Congo) | 1^st feature documentary
GREY GLOW (LUEUR GRISE)– Michèle Tyan (Lebanon) | 1^st fiction feature
LA MÁS DULCE – Laïla Marrakchi (Morocco) | 3^rd fiction feature
ORIENT ADAGIO (QITAR AL-SHARQ AL-BATI’) – Maha Haj (Palestine) | 3^rd fiction feature
SAFE EXIT – Mohammed Hammad (Egypt) | 2^nd fiction feature
THE STATION – Sara Ishaq (Yemen) | 1^st fiction feature
TRIP TO JERUSALEM – Michel Zarazir and Gaby Zarazir (Lebanon) | 1^st fiction feature
VAGABONDS – Amartei Armar (Ghana) | 1^st fiction feature
WOLVES – Rami Kodeih (Lebanon) | 1^st fiction feature

Atlas Film Showcase
EARTH AND ASHES (TERRE ET CENDRES)– Leyna Tahiri (Morocco) | 1^st fiction feature
INTO THE BLUE NIGHT (VERS LA NUIT BLEUE) – Halima Elkhatabi (Morocco) | 1^st fiction feature
REMONTADA – Reda Lahmouid (Morocco) | 1^st fiction feature
THE TANJAWI (LE TANGÉROIS) – Zahoua Raji & Ayoub Layoussifi (Morocco) | 1^st fiction feature
TODAY, I AM 25 YEARS OLD – Shaden Safieddine Tazi (Morocco) | 1^st fiction feature

Atlas Film Showcase
UNTIL DAWN (JUSQU’À L’AUBE)– Mohamed Zineddaine (Morocco) | fiction feature

2025 Atlas station Participants and Short Films

Participants
Lamia Bengelloun
Kenza Berrada Amor
Ines Lehaire
Linda Qibaa
Zainab Rabbaa
Fadila Taha
Oumayma Zekri Ajarrai
 
Short Films in Post-production
BARZAKH (BARZAKH : LE MONDE INTERMÉDIAIRE) – Kenza Tazi (Morocco) | 2^nd short fiction film
THE BRIDE OF THE RAIN (TASLIT N’OUNZAR) – Driss Ouaamar (Morocco) | 1^st short animated film in production
DESERTED STREETS (RUES DÉSERTES)– Batoul Benazzou (Morocco) | 1^st short fiction film
MESK ELLIL – Adnane Rami (Morocco) | 3rd short fiction film