Fragments from Heaven by Adnane Baraka, presented at the production or post-production section of the Workshops in 2020, is selected in competition at the Locarno Film Festival.

The Marrakech International Film Festival has wrapped up the 4th edition of the Atlas Workshops, which took place online from 22 to 25 November with the support of the Moroccan Centre for Cinematography and Netflix.

The second digital edition of the Atlas Workshops brought together 300 international professionals around 24 projects and films by a new generation of Moroccan, Arab and African filmmakers. These 15 projects in development and 9 films in production or post-production benefited from tailor-made support representing nearly 150 hours of mentoring by consultants in screenwriting, production, distribution, editing and music. A virtual co-production market generated nearly 350 individual meetings with participating directors and producers, illustrating a growing interest in cinema coming from the African continent and the Arab world.

Six prizes, representing a total value of €56,000, were given out by the Atlas Workshops in this fourth edition. 

The Atlas Prizes for post-production, decided on by jury members Nuha El Tayeb (Netflix), Sido Mohamed Lansari (Cinémathèque de Tanger) and Karel Och (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival), went to:

• THE MOTHER OF ALL LIES (LA MÈRE DE TOUS LES MENSONGES) – Asmae El Moudir (Morocco) - €20,000
  Produced by Asmae El Moudir (Morocco)
• UNDER THE FIG TREES (SOUS LES FIGUES) – Erige Sehiri (Tunisia) - €10,000
  Produced by Erige Sehiri (Tunisia)
  Co-produced by Palmyre Badinier (Switzerland) and Didar Domehri (France)

The Atlas Prizes for development were presented, by a jury composed of Sata Cissokho (Memento) and producers Steven Markovitz and Janja Kralj, to:

• THE CHATTERING OF TEETH – Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese (Lesotho)- €10,000
  Produced by Cait Pansegrouw, Elias Ribeiro (South Africa)
• THE LAST DAYS OF R.M. (LES DERNIERS JOURS DE R.M.) – Amin Sidi-Boumédiène (Algeria) - €5,000
  Produced by Louise Bellicaud, Claire Charles-Gervais (France)
• LA MÁS DULCE – Laïla Marrakchi(Morocco) - €5,000
  Produced by Laïla Marrakchi (Morocco)

The ArteKino International Prize, awarded by the Franco-German channel, was given to:

• SWEET DISPOSITION – Youssef Michraf (Morocco) - €6,000
  Produced by Jean-Christophe Reymond, Camille Marquet (France)

Over its four editions, the Atlas Workshops has supported 88 projects and films, several of which have gone on to win awards at prestigious festivals, such as Ismaël El Iraki’s BURNING CASABLANCA, which won Orrizonti Award for Best Actress at the Venice International Film Festival; Omar El Zohairy’s FEATHERS, the first Arab film to win the Grand Prix of the Semaine de la Critique at the Festival de Cannes; and Khadar Ahmed’s THE GRAVEDIGGER’S WIFE, which recently won the Golden Stallion at FESPACO and is Somalia’s first Academy Award entry.