The Atlas Workshops Reveal 30-Projects for its 2026 Lineup

The Marrakech International Film Festival‘s Atlas Workshops has announced its list of successful applicants for the 2026 edition of the workshop which will be held during the Marrakech Film Festival running from November 20-28. Launched in 2018, The Atlas Workshops is an industry and talent-development program initiated by the festival to facilitate professional and industry growth. Through the Workshops, the Festival works with a new generation of Moroccan, Arab, and African filmmakers, and creates a space for exchange between international professionals and regional talents.

The 2026 selection gathers 30 projects and films from 14 countries, chosen from 410 submissions. From its inception in 2018, this year’s scale points to the growing interest the platform has drawn from filmmakers across the region. The selection was drawn from 320 projects in development and 90 films in production or post-production. It splits into three categories: 14 projects in development, 11 films in production or post-production, and 5 projects in the Atlas Close-Ups section, which is reserved for Moroccan cinema.

The 14  represented countries are Algeria, Cabo Verde, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Syria, and Tunisia. Among the projects in development, 12 are fiction films, and 2 are documentaries, with 6 debut features in the group. Several are led by directors who have already drawn attention with earlier work, including Amjad Abu Alala’s You Will Die at Twenty, Laila Abbas’ Thank You for Banking with Us, Meryem Benm’Barek’s Sofia and Behind the Palm Trees, Sofia Alaoui’s Animalia, and Yasmine Benkiran’s Queens. 

The section of films in production or post-production holds 11 titles, 5 of them debut features. Four of these received earlier development support from the Atlas Workshops, which indicates the continuity of the platform’s backing. The filmmakers and films include: the 2019-selected Rwandan Samuel Ishimwe’s Seasons of the Weary Kind, Moroccan Alaa Eddine Aljem’s Eldorado, Yoro Mbaye’s Fagadaga from Senegal, and Ismaël El Iraki’s Wolfmother from Morocco, selected in 2023. 

The Atlas Close-Ups program, devoted to Moroccan cinema, features five projects: four fiction films and one documentary. Across all sections, the selected works move between personal narrative and political upheaval, between individual memory and collective history, and take in a range of styles and perspectives from Moroccan, Arab, and African filmmakers.

A separate track, Atlas Station, is built for young Moroccan professionals. This year it welcomes 8 filmmakers, four women and four men, chosen from 30 applicants, for a program focused on different aspects of film production and on exchanges with international professionals. This section will support five Moroccan short films in post-production, four fiction, and one documentary, selected from 24 submissions, with help tailored to each film’s needs in final editing and distribution.

Alongside the Workshops and Atlas Station, Atlas Press supports the development of film criticism, while the Atlas Distribution Meetings bring together some 60 professionals from Africa, the Arab world, and Europe for networking and the circulation of films.

The Atlas Distribution Awards complete the structure by backing film distribution. The Workshops, Atlas Station, and Distribution Meetings run from November 22 to 26, and Atlas Press runs from November 23 to 27.

Here is the official selection for the 2026 Atlas Workshops

14 Projects in Development 

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11 Films in Production or Post-production 

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5 Moroccan Projects for the Atlas Close-Ups 

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Participants and Short Films in Post-Production Selected for the 2026 Atlas Station

Selected Moroccan Professionals for the Atlas Station 

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