There is a different energy around the Marrakech International Film Festival this year. It’s not about the celebrities, or the glitter, or the predictable social-media noise. It’s something subtler—a cultural shift you can feel if you take a step back and pay attention.
Jamal Khnoussi’s Facebook post might seem like another festival impression among thousands. But if you read it slowly, it becomes something else: a small but meaningful marker of change.
A sign that Morocco is starting to talk about cinema the way one talks about an art form—not a spectacle.
1. When conversations move from the margins to the heart of the matter
For years, festival talk was dominated by peripheral chatter: Who got invited? Who didn’t? Who took a photo with which Hollywood star? So much noise that the films themselves were overshadowed.
This year feels different. People are arguing about a Nigerian film versus a Moroccan one.
They’re questioning directing choices, story structures, and performances. They’re disagreeing—seriously, passionately.
This shift is not cosmetic. It is a sign that something in the collective gaze is maturing.
2. The criticism workshops: seemingly small, but fundamentally transformative
One of the most striking points Khnoussi raises is the workshop led by Charles Tesson.
Five days of watching, discussing, debating… open to students, journalists, young cinephiles.
It may sound like a technical detail, but it’s not.
It is the beginning of a critical culture.
A festival that teaches people how to look, how to read an image, how to form a thought and defend it— that is a festival investing in the future, not only in the moment.
3. Critics, journalists, cinephiles: a necessary tension
There’s no point pretending these groups always agree.
They don’t, and that’s the beauty of it.
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Critics dig deep.
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Journalists tell the story of the moment.
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Cinephiles argue from instinct.
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Social media democratizes the entire conversation.
The friction among these worlds is not a bug.
It is the beating heart of any cultural event worth its name.
4. The uncontrolled conversation: the best thing that can happen to Marrakech
What’s most refreshing about this edition is precisely what wasn’t planned:
the spontaneous debates, the disagreements, the impassioned defenses and demolitions of films.
The love/hate reactions to “The Sixth,”
the sudden enthusiasm for certain films,
the stubborn resistance to others—
all of this signals one thing:
the festival is finally producing real cultural life, not staged enthusiasm.
A festival grows not when it shines, but when it provokes thought and disagreement.
5. The real question: what do we do with this moment?
Moments like this don’t last on their own.
They need to be cultivated.
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Keep the training going.
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Bring young critics into the official spaces.
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Connect Marrakech with Africa’s broader film ecosystem.
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Protect the emerging culture of debate from falling back into shallow controversies.
This year feels like a turning point.
If we’re wise, it could become the foundation of something bigger.
