{"id":320331,"date":"2025-11-29T10:20:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T10:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/320331\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T10:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T10:20:10","slug":"jenna-ortega-bong-joon-ho-anya-taylor-joy-kick-off-marrakech-film-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/320331\/","title":{"rendered":"Jenna Ortega, Bong Joon Ho, Anya Taylor-Joy Kick Off Marrakech Film Fest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe 22nd Marrakech Film Festival<\/a> got off to a star-studded start on Friday night with a screening of Gus Van Sant\u2019s \u201cDead Man Wire\u201d attended by Bong Joon Ho<\/a>, Jenna Ortega<\/a>, Anya Taylor-Joy<\/a> and more big names in international cinema.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cParasite\u201d Oscar winner Bong, who is serving as this year\u2019s jury president, was welcomed with a standing ovation at the opening ceremony, introducing the festival by drawing a parallel with his own experiences at the age of 22.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was greedily devouring movies as a student of cinema,\u201d said Bong, who will delivering a masterclass next week at the festival. \u201cLooking back, my 22-year-old self was brimming with energy and passion for cinema. I feel that Marrakech is also buzzing with a special energy as it enters its 22nd year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDead Man\u2019s Wire,\u201d which had its world premiere at Venice Film Festival, stars Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd as real-life criminal Tony Kiritsis, who in 1977 kidnapped his bank mortgager and embarked on a wild goose chase with the cops. The film has received generally positive reviews, with Variety\u2018s Owen Gleiberman calling it a miniature \u201cDog Day Afternoon,\u201d adding that plays Kiritsis \u201cwith a jittery but logical fast-talk fervor that makes this one of the actor\u2019s two or three most potent performances.\u201d It\u2019s set to hit theaters on Jan. 9 on a limited release before going wide Jan. 16.<\/p>\n

\n\tThough only producer Cassian Elwes was present to introduce \u201cDead Man\u2019s Wire,\u201d the festival made up for it through its jam-packed jury. Alongside Bong as president, the jury includes \u201cWednesday\u201d star Ortega, \u201cFuriosa\u201d lead Taylor-Joy, \u201cPast Lives\u201d and \u201cMaterialists\u201d filmmaker Celine Song, \u201cTitane\u201d Palme d\u2019Or winner Julia Ducournau, Bralizian director Karim A\u00efnouz, Moroccan filmmaker Hakim Belabbes and Iranian-American actor-director Payman Maadi. Assembled by the festival\u2019s longtime president Melita Toscan du Plantier (who is also a producer), the jury will be discovering 14 films by first- and second-time directors which are playing in competition.<\/p>\n

\n\tToscan du Plantier told Variety on the red carpet before the opening night that the presence of high-profile filmmakers and talent on the jury is particularly meaningful for emerging directors. \u201cIt\u2019s incredible for these directors to know that their first films are going to be watched by Bong Joon Ho, by all of these actors and directors,\u201d said the festival\u2019s president. She also revealed that Jodie Foster, who is receiving a tribute award at the festival, had arrived a few days ago for her very first trip to the country.<\/p>\n

\n\tSong, for whom Marrakech Film Festival marks her first trip to Africa, said she was excited to watch movies by rising filmmakers. \u201cWhat\u2019s amazing about this festival is that it feels like a discovery festival,\u201d she told Variety on the carpet. \u201cI got to be a juror at Sundance this year, and that\u2019s also a discovery festival. So I love walking in sort of not having all the context for movies. I feel like that\u2019s pretty rare, instead of all the build up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t In an interview with Variety ahead of the festival, <\/a>Marrakech\u2019s artistic director\u00a0Remi Bonhomme<\/a> described Marrakech as \u201ca gateway between Europe and Africa, which allows us to operate both internationally and regionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAt the same time,\u201d Bonhomme said, \u201cbeing at the end of the year places us right in the middle of the Oscar race. We want to embrace that strategic position both geographically and in terms of the calendar.\u201d This year\u2019s lineup indeed boasts many Oscar submissions for the international feature film race, including \u201cHomebound\u201d (co-produced by Toscan du Plantier), \u201cPalestine 36,\u201d \u201cCalle Malaga,\u201d \u201cThe President\u2019s Cake,\u201d \u201cA Poet\u201d and \u201cNo Other Choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer concurred, telling Variety that the Academy is \u201cbecoming more and more global.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe want to have a bigger presence in the Middle East and North Africa and I\u2019m here to meet filmmakers and to talk about the Academy and to see a lot of great movies,\u201d he said, adding that the \u201cfestival is more and more becoming a really key stop on the Oscars awards circuit.\u201d Kramer, who will also deliver a conversation at the fest next week, pointed out that the Academy has \u201cbeen here for the last couple of years and it\u2019s becoming a real home for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe ceremony closed with a tribute to renowned 85-year-old Egyptian actor Hussein Fahmi, who received huge applause from the Marrakech audience. After a reel played of his most famous roles, including \u201cWatch Out for Zuzu\u201d (1972) and \u201cAlexandria Again and Forever\u201d (1990), Fahmi shook hands with each jury member and beamed as he received more cheers from the crowd.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Marrakech Film Festival runs through Dec. 6 and will include tributes to Foster and Guillermo del Toro alongside screenings of their latest films, as well as conversations with Kleber Mendon\u00e7a Filho, Kramer, \u201cThe Matrix\u201d star Laurence Fishburne, \u201cIt Was Just an Accident\u201d Palme d\u2019Or winner Jafar Panahi and \u201cBlonde\u201d director Andrew Dominik.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 22nd Marrakech Film Festival got off to a star-studded start on Friday night with a screening of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[65469,163975,236,88,26319,162052],"class_list":["post-320331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-anya-taylor-joy","tag-bong-joon-ho","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-jenna-ortega","tag-marrakech-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}