Overview
The Atlas Workshops is the industry and talent development platform of the Marrakech International Film Festival (FIFM), launched in 2018 to support a new generation of Moroccan, Arab, and African filmmakers. The program runs for five days during the festival (late November to early December) and selects approximately 28 projects and films in development, production, or post-production from over 320 applications received annually across the African continent and the Arab world.
Selected filmmakers receive one-on-one consultations with international industry experts, group work sessions covering scriptwriting, editing, financing, production strategy, distribution, and sales, and access to tailored mentorship. The program distributes more than EUR 120,000 in cash prizes across development and post-production categories, making it one of the most financially significant industry programs in the Arab and African regions.
The 8th edition took place from November 30 to December 4, 2025, with Romanian director Cristian Mungiu (Palme d'Or winner for 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) serving as patron. The 9th edition is scheduled for November 22 to 26, 2026. There is no entry fee to apply.
Submission Details
Applications are submitted through the Atlas Workshops online portal. The submission timeline typically opens several months before the festival, with deadlines in early fall. There is no entry fee.
Eligibility:
- Filmmakers based in or originating from Morocco, the Arab world, and Africa
- Projects must be first or second feature films (fiction, documentary, or animation)
- Both projects in development and films in production or post-production are eligible
- Applicants must provide project details, a director's statement, supporting materials (script, treatment, or rough cut depending on the stage), and a streaming link for films in post-production
Deadline tiers:
- Applications typically open in summer with a final deadline in early fall
- No Early/Regular/Late tier system; single deadline per edition
- Notification occurs several weeks before the festival
For the 2026 edition (November 22 to 26), monitor the official Atlas Workshops website for submission dates and eligibility updates.
Key Sections
- Projects in Development - first and second feature films (fiction, documentary, animation) from Arab and African filmmakers, receiving mentorship and eligible for Atlas Development Awards
- Films in Production or Post-Production - completed or near-completed features receiving post-production support and eligible for Atlas Post-Production Awards
- Atlas Close-Ups - Moroccan projects in development, providing a dedicated platform for emerging national talent
- Atlas Film Showcase - screenings of completed films by Moroccan and regional filmmakers
- Atlas Station - a professional development program for young Moroccan producers and directors, with 7 professionals and 4 short films in post-production selected for the 2025 edition
- Atlas Distribution Awards - a distribution support scheme for Morocco and the Arab and African nations, accompanied by industry discussions for regional distributors. The 2025 edition welcomed 60 distributors from across the Middle East and North Africa through the newly launched Atlas Distribution Meetings
Past Winners
8th edition (2025) - Atlas Development Awards:
- First prize (EUR 30,000): Chapa 100 by Ique Langa (Mozambique). A love story between aging street vendors that assumes magical realist dimensions. Langa's second feature; his debut The Prophet is expected to premiere at a festival in 2026.
- Second prize (EUR 20,000): Les Dieux Délinquants by Boubacar Sangaré (Burkina Faso). An adaptation of Augustin Sondé Coulibaly's 1982 novel. Sangaré participated in the 2022 Atlas Workshops with A Golden Life.
- Two prizes of EUR 5,000 each: A Childhood by Scandar Copti (Palestine) and Vanda by Kamy Lara (Angola)
8th edition (2025) - Atlas Post-Production Awards:
- Two prizes of EUR 20,000 each: Don't Let the Sun Go Up on Me by Asmae El Moudir (Morocco/France/Denmark) and La Más Dulce by Laïla Marrakchi (Morocco). El Moudir's project is a hybrid documentary; this is her second Atlas Workshops top prize. Marrakchi's film follows Moroccan women hired for strawberry picking in Andalusia.
- Two prizes of EUR 10,000 each: Goma Enough Is Enough by Elisé Sawasawa (DRC) and Safe Exit by Mohammed Hammad (Egypt)
22nd Marrakech International Film Festival (2025) - Main Competition:
- Étoile d'Or: Promised Sky directed by Erige Sehiri (Tunisia/France/Qatar). The film follows four generations of Ivorian immigrant women in Tunisia. It opened Cannes Un Certain Regard 2025 and won Best Actress for Debora Lobe Naney at Marrakech. Luxbox handles world sales; Jour2Fête distributes in France.
- Jury Prize (ex aequo): My Father and Qaddafi by Jihan K and Memory by Vladlena Sandu
- Best Directing: Oscar Hudson for Straight Circle
- Best Actor: Sọpẹ Dìrísù for My Father's Shadow (directed by Akinola Davies Jr., UK/Nigeria). The film premiered at Cannes Un Certain Regard 2025 and was the UK's Oscar submission. MUBI acquired it for theatrical release.
- Special Mention: Elliot and Luke Tittensor for Straight Circle
- Jury chair: Bong Joon Ho. Jury members: Jenna Ortega, Anya Taylor-Joy, Julia Ducournau, Celine Song, Karim Aïnouz, Hakim Belabbes, Payman Maadi
- Tributes: Jodie Foster, Guillermo del Toro, Hussein Fahmi, Raouya
- 47,000+ spectators attended the 22nd edition
Notable Alumni Films and Where They Ended Up
The Atlas Workshops has supported 180 projects since 2018, including more than 70 Moroccan films. Since the post-production prize was introduced in 2020, every top winner has gone on to premiere at Cannes or Berlin.
Asmae El Moudir won the Atlas Workshops top post-production prize for The Mother of All Lies, which then premiered at Cannes Un Certain Regard 2023, winning Best Director and Best Documentary. The film became the first Moroccan film to win Marrakech's Étoile d'Or in 2023. Autlook Filmsales handled world sales. El Moudir returned to the Atlas Workshops in 2025 with Don't Let the Sun Go Up on Me, winning the top post-production prize again.
Scandar Copti won the Étoile d'Or at Marrakech in 2024 for Happy Holidays. He returned to the Atlas Workshops in 2025 with A Childhood, winning a EUR 5,000 development prize.
Mounia Akl participated with Costa Brava, Lebanon, which won awards at Toronto and London after Atlas Workshops support. She returned in 2025 with Hold Me (If You Want), a second fiction feature.
Amjad Al Rasheed developed Inshallah a Boy through the Atlas Workshops. The film won awards at Cannes, Rotterdam, and Camerimage.
Feathers (winner of the Atlas Post-Production Prize) premiered at Cannes Critics' Week and won the Grand Prize.
Submission Tips Specific to This Festival
The Atlas Workshops accepts only first and second features. If you have already made two features, you are ineligible. The program values personal, culturally specific stories over genre exercises. Recent winning projects deal with family, identity, migration, and social tension - themes that resonate across the Arab and African regions.
For post-production applicants, having a rough cut that demonstrates strong visual identity improves your chances. The post-production jury includes programmers and sales agents who evaluate both artistic quality and market potential. Asmae El Moudir's hybrid documentary approach and Laïla Marrakchi's socially engaged fiction both won in 2025, showing the program rewards formal diversity.
For development applicants, a clear director's statement matters as much as the script. The development jury includes producers and executives (the 2025 jury included a BFI executive and an Arte France managing director) who assess the project's feasibility alongside its artistic ambition.
The Atlas Distribution Meetings, launched in 2025, bring 60 distributors from the MENA region. If your film targets Arab or African audiences, this access to regional distributors is unmatched by any other development program.
Industry Reputation Notes
The Atlas Workshops fills a specific gap in the Arab and African film industry: structured development and post-production support for first and second feature filmmakers. While programs like the Sundance Labs, Berlinale Talents, and Cannes Residence exist, they are not designed specifically for filmmakers from the MENA and African regions. The Atlas Workshops provides a regional equivalent with international-caliber mentorship.
Compared to the Cairo Film Connection (Egypt's co-production market) and the Durban FilmMart (South Africa's industry platform), the Atlas Workshops offers larger cash prizes (EUR 120,000 total) and stronger connections to European festivals. Every post-production top winner since 2020 has premiered at Cannes or Berlin.
The program also serves as a networking bridge. Selected filmmakers gain access to the full Marrakech International Film Festival industry activities, including screenings, market events, and meetings with international sales agents, distributors, and festival programmers. The Atlas Distribution Awards address the distribution bottleneck in the region by providing funds for theatrical release in Morocco and partner territories.
The 2025 edition invited 31 consultants and experts alongside 3 acting mentors. Topics covered include scriptwriting, editing, financing, production strategy, film scoring, poster design, distribution, and international sales.
Awards / Accreditation
The Atlas Workshops is not a FIAPF-accredited festival. It is an industry development program operating within the Marrakech International Film Festival.
Atlas Development Awards (2025):
- First prize: EUR 30,000
- Second prize: EUR 20,000
- Two prizes of EUR 5,000 each
Atlas Post-Production Awards (2025):
- Two prizes of EUR 20,000 each
- Two prizes of EUR 10,000 each
Atlas Distribution Awards: Funds for theatrical release in Morocco and partner territories.
Total prize fund: EUR 120,000 across all categories.
The parent Marrakech International Film Festival awards the Étoile d'Or (Golden Star) for Best Film in its Official Competition, which focuses on first and second features. The 2025 Étoile d'Or went to Promised Sky by Erige Sehiri.
Watch
What Filmmakers Should Know
The Atlas Workshops accepts applications from filmmakers based in or originating from Morocco, the Arab world, and Africa. Projects must be first or second feature films. The 2025 edition selected 28 projects from over 320 applications, an acceptance rate of approximately 8 to 9 percent. Applications are submitted through the Atlas Workshops online portal with no entry fee. Applicants must provide project details, a director's statement, supporting materials, and a streaming link for films in post-production. The program distributes EUR 120,000 in cash prizes across development and post-production categories. Selected filmmakers receive one-on-one consultations with 31 international consultants and 3 acting mentors. The Atlas Distribution Meetings, launched in 2025, connect filmmakers with 60 distributors from the MENA region. The key trade-off: the Atlas Workshops offers the strongest development and post-production support for Arab and African filmmakers, but eligibility is restricted to first and second features from specific regions, and the program runs concurrently with the festival rather than as a standalone market.
History
The Atlas Workshops was launched in 2018 as part of the Marrakech International Film Festival's broader strategy to build infrastructure for Arab and African cinema. The program has grown from an initial cohort to its current scale of 28 selected projects, 31 consultants, and EUR 120,000 in prize money. Past patrons include Jeff Nichols (2024) and Cristian Mungiu (2025).
The introduction of Atlas Station in 2024, with its first cohort of 10 Moroccan talents, reflected the festival's commitment to developing the domestic Moroccan film industry alongside its regional mission. By 2025, Atlas Station expanded to support 7 Moroccan professionals and 4 short films in post-production.
The Atlas Distribution Meetings, launched in 2025, brought 60 distributors from across the Middle East and North Africa, marking the program's second consecutive year of growth.
See Also
For the parent festival, see Marrakech International Film Festival. For festival circuit planning and submission strategy, see Film Festival Strategy. For understanding Arab and African film markets, see International Film Markets. To calculate the return on investment for festival submissions, use the Festival Entry Fee ROI Calculator.
