Marrakech hosts film festival in the shadow of war in the Middle East
By SAM METZ
Associated Press
MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — The Marrakech International Film Festival begins on Friday, bringing American and international movie stars to the Arab world as war in the Middle East has led to the cancellation of other film festivals. The festival will feature directors Martin Scorsese and Richard Linklater and actors Jessica Chastain and Mads Mikkelsen. It will showcase international films and productions from emerging Moroccan, Arab and African filmmakers. Linklater’s action-comedy “Hit Man” will open the festival. Though Moroccan Prince Moulay Rachid called the festival “a bastion of peace,” other festival organizers in the region, including in Cairo and Tunis, have canceled their events this year.