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Marrakech International Film Festival · 2018

Marrakech International Film Festival 2018

Competition

Programme

14 films · 7 reviews

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Akasha

A revolutionary soldier on the run hatches a plot to retrieve his beloved gun.

(Country: Sudan, South Africa, Qatar, Germany; Year: 2018; Director: hajooj kuka; Writer: hajooj kuka; Stars: Ekram Marcus, Kamal Ramadan, Ganja Chakado)

All Is Well (Alles Ist Gut, All Good)

Review preview for All Is Well

Trobisch lets the normality bite.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A woman keeps silent after a rape.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2018; Director: Eva Trobisch; Writer: Eva Trobisch; Stars: Aenne Schwarz, Andreas Döhler, Hans Löw, Tilo Nest, Lina Wendel, Lisa Hagmeister, Dagny Dewath, Thomas Gräßle, Annika Blendl, Doris Buchrucker, Hildegard Faust-Albrecht, Vera Flück, Marc-Philipp Kochendörfer, Valentina Kühnel, Hermann Linnenbrink)

Full review

The Chambermaid (La Camarista)

Review preview for The Chambermaid

This is a quiet movie, which never loses its focus on its central character study, while allowing points about economic and social inequalities to sound out loud and clear.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Character study of a maid in a Mexican hotel.

(Country: Mexico, US; Year: 2018; Director: Lila Avilés; Writer: Lila Avilés, Juan Carlos Marquéz; Stars: Gabriela Cartol, Teresa Sánchez, Gabriela Cartol, Teresa Sánchez)

Full review See: Lila Avilés talks about making The Chambermaid , Interview with Gabriela Cartol about The Chambermaid

Diane

Review preview for Diane

Place, who appears in almost every scene, has never been better.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Diane is a devoted friend and caretaker, particularly to her drug-addicted son. But as those around her begin to drift away in the last quarter of her life, she is left to reckon with past choices.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Kent Jones; Writer: Kent Jones; Stars: Jake Lacy, Mary Kay Place, Phyllis Somerville, Kerry Flanagan, Ray Iannicelli, Jennifer Delora, Joe James, Crystal Tweed, Ann Osmond, Ann Lucente, David Tuttle, Patrick Husted, Lorenzo Beronilla, Dierdre Friel, Jenny Kirlin)

Full review See: ‪Kent Jones in conversation on Mary Kay Place, the power of ellipsis in cinema, and the objects in Diane , Kent Jones in conversation on the road, costume design, and passports to another universe in Diane

The Giraffe (La ahdun hunak)

A man finds himself involved with an eccentric group of young people lead by an enigmatic girl who is trying to uncover the mystery behind the Giraffe hidden at the zoo.

(Country: Egypt; Year: 2018; Director: Ahmed Magdy; Stars: Amr Hosny, Shaza Moharam, Haidy Koussa, Salma Hassan, Rasha Magdy)

The Good Girls (Las Ninas Bien)

Mexico City 1982. Affluent and arrogant, queen bee Sofia rules over the city’s social elite–until the family business falls victim to the national economic crisis... but how far will she go to retain her status.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2018; Director: Alejandra Márquez Abella; Writer: Alejandra Márquez Abella; Stars: Ilse Salas, Flavio Medina, Cassandra Ciangherotti, Paulina Gaitan, Johanna Murillo, Jimena Guerra, Ana José Aldrete, Pablo Chemor, Claudia Lobo, Diego Jáuregui, Daniel Haddad, Rebecca de Alba, Nicolas Andreu, Alfonso Borbolla, Alejandro Caballero)

Irina

A woman whose family are on the breadline becomes a surrogate mother to make ends meet.

(Country: Bulgaria; Year: 2018; Director: Nadejda Koseva; Writer: Nadejda Koseva, Svetoslav Ovtcharov, Bojan Vuletic; Stars: Martina Apostolova, Hristo Ushev, Irini Jambonas, Kasiel Noah Asher, Alexander Kossev, Krassimir Dokov, Ivan Savov, Martina Apostolova, Hristo Ushev, Irini Jambonas, Kasiel Noah Asher, Alexander Kossev, Krassimir Dokov, Ivan Savov)

Joy

Drama about a woman caught up in the world of sex trafficking.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2018; Director: Sudabeh Mortezai; Stars: Joy Alphonsus, Mariam Precious Sanusi, Angela Ekeleme)

The Load (Teret)

Review preview for The Load

Glavonic, who has a background in documentary, has crafted a moody and broody piece, built less on onscreen incident than the oppressive atmosphere and offscreen imaginings.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A truck driver is tasked with transporting mysterious cargo across a scorched landscape from Kosovo to Belgrade during the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.

(Country: Serbia, France, Croatia, Iran, Qatar; Year: 2018; Director: Ognjen Glavonic; Writer: Ognjen Glavonic; Stars: Leon Lucev, Pavle Cemerikic, Tamara Krcunovic, Ivan Lucev, Igor Bencina, Kosta Bekric, Novak Bilbija, Tadija Calukovic, Branislav Ciric, Radoje Cupic, Mateja Dimitrijevic, Olga Dimitrijevic, Sara Dinic, Milos Gasevic, Marko Grba Singh)

Full review

Look At Me (Fi 'Ainaya)

Review preview for Look At Me

We are spared the usual sugary score and the savant trope is nowhere to be seen. Instead we get the mess, the anger and the frustration much more common in real life.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Lotfi, 40, is forced to come back to Tunisia when his ex-wife is unexpectedly hospitalised. He is now in charge of his autistic son Amr, nine, who ignores the dad he has never known.

(Country: Tunisia, France, Qatar; Year: 2018; Director: Néjib Belkadhi; Writer: Néjib Belkadhi; Stars: Nidhal Saadi, Sawssen Maalej, Nidhal Saadi, Sawssen Maalej)

Full review

Red Snow (Akai yuki)

When a boy disappears, his older brother suppresses the memory of what happened.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2018; Director: Sayaka Kai; Stars: Masotoshi Nagase, Nahana, Arata Lura, Yui Nastukawa, Koichi Sato)

Rojo

Review preview for Rojo

The writer/director casts his net wide, taking inspiration from auteurs like John Boorman and Sam Peckinpah through to freeze-frame moments that could slot straight into TV detective dramas of the time.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Violence is sparked on the eve of Argentina's dictatorship.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2018; Director: Benjamín Naishtat; Writer: Benjamín Naishtat; Stars: Alfredo Castro, Darío Grandinetti, Andrea Frigerio)

Full review See: Benjamin Naishtat interview about Rojo

Urgent (Une urgence ordinaire, Tafaha al-kail)

Review preview for Urgent

Besri, who has a background in maths and physics, constructs his film like a careful equation

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Drama tracks a group of strangers who come together at an overworked Casablanca hospital.

(Country: Morocco, Switzerland; Year: 2018; Director: Mohcine Besri; Writer: Mohcine Besri, Cécile Vargaftig; Stars: Rachid Mustapha, Fatima Zahra Benacer, Youssef Alaoui, Saïd Bey, Ghalia Ben)

Full review See: Mohcine Besri talks about Urgent (Une Urgence Ordinaire)

Vanishing Days (Màn yóu)

Reality and memory become tangled together in this tale of two families.

(Country: China; Year: 2018; Director: Zhu Xin; Writer: Dai Ying, Zhu Xin; Stars: Jlang Li, Huang Jing as, Qiu Xiaqiu, Chen Yan, Li Xiaoxing, Lu Jiahe)