Kleber Mendonça Filho Named Patron of 9th Atlas Workshops — SkimNews
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- Kleber Mendonça Filho was named patron of the 9th Atlas Workshops, succeeding Cristian Mungiu and Jeff Nichols, and will mentor participating filmmakers; the Brazilian director said the role lets him 'witness the birth of new films' after attending Marrakech last year on the awards trail.
- Atlas Workshops selected 30 projects from 410 submissions spanning 14 countries — Algeria, Cabo Verde, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Syria, and Tunisia.
- The lineup splits into 14 projects in development, 11 in production or post-production, and 5 in the Moroccan-focused Atlas Close-Ups section, with workshops head Hédi Zardi citing 'a strong presence of strong female Moroccan directors.'
- Established directors in the development slate include Amjad Abu Alala (You Will Die at Twenty), Laila Abbas, Meryem Benm'Barek, Sofia Alaoui, and Yasmine Benkiran, while buzzy first-features include Sarra Ryma, whose Cannes Critics' Week short preceded her project Algiers Haze.
- Four films in the production or post-production selection — Seasons of the Weary Kind, Eldorado, Fagadaga, and Wolfmother — previously passed through Atlas Workshops at development stage, a continuity Zardi frames as proof of 'continuity in our work.'
- Past Atlas alumni include Congo Boy and Strawberries (Cannes Un Certain Regard), Furies (Venice), Bardi (New York), and Ego Reach We All (Locarno), positioning the workshops as a tracked pipeline to top-tier festival play.
- The 9th edition runs online from November 2–6 and physically in Marrakech from November 22–26, 2026, under the broader Atlas Programs banner alongside Atlas Station, Atlas Press, and Atlas Distribution Meetings.
Why it matters: With four returning projects and a slate linking rookie first-features to Cannes Critics' Week graduates, the Atlas Workshops function as a verifiable pipeline: more than a third of the 30 selected projects already cleared one festival circuit, so the November sessions become a concrete bet on which African and Arab projects reach Cannes, Venice, and Locarno in 2027.
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