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| The jury at this year's festival, headed by James Gray, centre Photo: Sife Elamine/Marrakech Film Festival |
The 17th edition of the Marrakech Film Festival has got off to a star-studed start as actors including Dakota Johnson and Robert Pattinson graced the red carpet.
The festival also welcomed directors James Gray (who is jury president), Lynne Ramsay, Laurent Cantet, Joana Hadjithomas, Michel Franco and Tala Hadid, along with actors Ileana D'Cruz (Barfi) and Daniel Brühl.
In his opening speech, Gray said: “I’m an American and in this moment I feel a high responsibility to at least try to represent the best side of us – the open, the hopeful and thoughtful, and enlightened side.”
Other big names on the night - which included a gala screening of Julian Schnabel's Van Gogh biopic At Eternity’s Gate - included Schabel and two of his film's stars Vincent Perez and Vladimir Consigny, alongside directors Guillermo Del Toro and Agnes Varda plus Cannes Film Festival’s artistic director Thierry Fremaux, who gave a masterclass today.
The festival, which had a one-year hiatus, has returned under the eye of new artistic director Christoph Terhechte - who was director of the Berlin Film Festival's Forum section for two decades.
Stars arriving later in the week include Monica Bellucci, Gael Garcia Bernal, Viggo Mortensen and Gilles Lelouche.
We'll be bringing you reports directly from the festival from Monday.
