Lina Labiadin Marrakech
11/30/2024 at 09:59Updated on 11/30/2024 at 1:02 p.m.
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YESTERDAY EVENING IN MARRAKECH. The jury of the 21st edition of the International Film Festival was honored after a red carpet in complete privacy, without an audience. Luca Guadagnino and his troupe were treated to a ceremony full of emotion… and love for Morocco.
When he arrives on the red carpet, about twenty minutes before the start of the Festival’s opening ceremony, he goes unnoticed. Despite his 96 meter height, Australian actor Jacob Elordi manages to blend into the crowd for a few minutes. It must be said that his new look – namely a new very full beard – gives him a more adult look, more self-confident, more… Bradley Cooper.
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Having just finished filming “Frankenstein” by Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro, in which he plays the role of the cult creature, Jacob Elordi has established himself in Marrakech for the next week on the occasion of the 21st edition of the city’s International Film Festival. At 27, he is part of an exceptional jury shaped around its president, the Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino: the British actor Andrew Garfield, the Belgian Virginie Efira, the Moroccan actress Nadia Kounda, the Indian filmmaker Zoya Akhtar but also the Iranian Ali Abbasi, the American Patricia Arquette and the Argentinian director Santiago Miter.
An upcoming press conference
Friday evening, the evening was entirely dedicated to them, from the red carpet to the TV set where they were all royally presented live on television. The opportunity for Luca Guadagnino to speak, in French, touched by the idea of returning to a city that he considers “inextricably linked” to cinema: “The first time I landed in Marrakech, I felt exceptional magic and sensations. It is for me an immense honor to chair the jury for this edition.” His Algerian mother having grown up in Casablanca, as he shares with emotion, the Italian director feels “half Moroccan”.
Luca Guadagnino speaks during the opening ceremony of the 21st Marrakech International Film Festival, November 29, 2024.
© AFP
After a few group photos, the members of the jury, one by one, declared the 21st edition of the Festival officially open, each in their own language. On Saturday, it will be time for the jury to address the press during a morning conference. In the evening, they will be back on the red carpet at the Palais des Congrès in Marrakech for a tribute ceremony to Sean Penn. Absent this weekend, the 64-year-old American actor is expected in Morocco this week.
