Jessica Chastain Champions Power Of Art As Marrakech Film Festival Opens Against The Odds

In one of the earliest announcements in recent memory, the Cannes Film Festival announced early Thursday morning Paris time the president of the jury for 2024. And, in something of a surprise, this year’s president is Greta Gerwig, a soon-to-be multiple Oscar nominee for the 2023 blockbuster “Barbie.” Gerwig is the first woman to lead the jury since Cate Blanchett in 2018 and the second American this decade after Spike Lee presided over the first post-pandemic jury in 2021.

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts continues with Michel Franco’s Memory, the thoughtful drama that won Peter Sarsgaard the Best Actor Volpi Cup in Venice earlier this year. Franco directs and wrote the movie that also stars Jessica Chastain.

After one Japanese title delivered at the sleepy December box office last weekend, that being Godzilla Minus One, here’s another that’s set to dominate: Studio Ghibli and GKIDS’ Hayao Miyazaki‘s The Boy and the Heron which is looking at a No. 1 lead with $10M+ after $2.39M Thursday and early access previews.

The Sundance Film Festival is celebrating its 40th anniversary in January and it’s no surprise that some legendary Park City filmmakers are returning with new films for the 2024 edition. Among the alumni are Steven Soderbergh, whose landmark film “Sex, Lies and Videotape” debuted at the 1989 fest; Debra Granik, whose Best Picture nominated “Winter’s Bone” won the Grand Jury Dramatic prize at the 2010 festival; and Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who will premiere their fourth movie at Sundance following 2006’s “Half Nelson,” 2008’s “Sugar” and 2015’s “Mississippi Grind.” READ MORE: “American Fiction,” “May December,” and “Past Lives” Top 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards Soderbergh’s latest effort is “Presence,” starring Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, and Julia Fox.

Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard are stepping out for a special screening of their new movie.

The 26th annual British Independent Film Awards take place this evening in London. Scroll down for the winners list. 

Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir has made history at the 20th edition of Morocco’s Marrakech Film Festival as the first local director to win its top prize with her hybrid documentary The Mother Of All Lies.

The Marrakech Film Festival celebrated its 20th edition this year, arriving at the landmark some 22 years after its 2001 launch due to the missed years of the pandemic.

Ben Croll The Marrakech Film Festival’s industry-focused Atlas Workshops will complement its existing support for development and production with the Atlas Distribution Award – a brand-new initiative meant to fuel wider domestic and international distribution for the Moroccan, Arab and Pan-African films presented at the festival. Taking inspiration from similar European schemes, the Marrakech Foundation will offer financial incentives to regional distributors releasing festival-selected titles.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor AGC Intl., the international sales and distribution arm of Stuart Ford’s fast-growing independent content studio AGC Studios, has picked up world rights from Image Nation Abu Dhabi, MBC Studios and VOX Studios on Yasir Al Yasiri‘s “HWJN,” and from O3 Medya and Dhafer L’Abidine’s Double A Productions on L’Abidine’s “To My Son.” Saudi fantasy romance ‘HWJN’ will open the Red Sea Film Festival on Nov. 30, while the emotional family drama “To My Son” will premiere in Red Sea’s Arab Spectacular section.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Match Factory has announced sales to key territories for Michel Franco’s latest feature “Memory,” which stars Jessica Chastain. The Academy Award winning actor is serving as jury president at this week’s Marrakech Film Festival, where she spoke about the film (see here). “Memory” premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was awarded with the Coppa Volpi for best actor to Peter Saarsgard.

The Match Factory has posted a raft of deals for Michel Franco’s drama Memory, starring Jessica Chastain and Peter Saarsgard, who won the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor in Venice following its world premiere there in September.

Nosferatu, alongside some first images.Bill Skarsgård is set to play the titular vampire in the upcoming gothic horror, which is the second remake of the 1922 German silent film of the same name, following Werner Herzog’s 1979 movie Nosferatu The Vampyre.Other cast members include Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Willem Dafoe, Simon McBurney and Ralph Ineson.On Tuesday (November 28), it was announced that Eggers’ Nosferatu will be released on December 25, 2024 in the US, with a UK release date yet to be announced.After the first images from the film arrived last week, some fans are already preparing themselves for a spooky festive season next year. In response to the release date, one X user wrote: “Might be the best Christmas ever.”Another added: “The Nosferatu trailer is likely around the corner and I can’t wait.

The emotional first trailer for Jessica Chastain and Peter Sargaard‘s new movie has been released.

Following acclaimed dramas like “New Order,” “Chronic” and “Sundown,” Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco has been gaining more and more international praise. While he’s worked with globally recognized names like Tim Roth (“Chronic,” “Sundown”), Hollywood has finally come knocking in a big way with his latest film, “Memory” which stars Academy Award winner Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard, who won the Best Actor Volpi Cup at the 2023 Venice Film Festival.

Tilda Swinton has many talents, including performing, producing, collaborating, writing, and dressing up, not to mention expressing herself beautifully on screen and in her choice of language. It’s the second time that I’ve interviewed the performance artist at the Marrakech International Film Festival, and I love how she talks.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Melita Toscan du Plantier has been the driving force behind the Marrakech Film Festival ever since her late husband, revered French producer Daniel Toscan du Plantier, wrote to Morocco’s king two decades ago expressing “his ambition for a big international festival in Morocco,” as she recounts. The festival’s 20th edition is currently underway in the ancient Moroccan city, despite the Israel-Hamas conflict that has caused cancellations of several other fests in the region as well as the earthquake that hit the country in September.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent After skipping Venice due to the actors’ strike, a busy Willem Dafoe is back on the festival trail, attending the 20th edition of the Marrakech Film Festival with his wife, filmmaker and actor Giada Colagrande. He spoke to Variety about his ties to Morocco, why he’s “happy to be promoting and starting to work again” now that the strike is over, and his role in Tim Burton’s upcoming “Beetlejuice 2.” How does it feel to be back in Marrakech? I’m happy to be back. Morocco for me is “The Last Temptation of Christ,” a film that was a beautiful experience.

Jessica Chastain and Tilda Swinton provided the ultimate study in contrast while attending the second day of the 2023 Marrakech International Film Festival on Saturday (November 25) in Marrakech, Morocco.

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-winning actress Jessica Chastain has given her seal of approval to the tentative agreement reached by SAG-AFTRA with the studios to end the near four-month actors’ strike.