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Rabat – The 2017 Marrakech International Film Festival has been cancelled, announced the festival’s organizers on Friday, but it is expected to continue in 2018.
While no specific reasons for the cancellation were given, astatement released by the Foundation of the International Film Festival of Marrakech revealed that the decision was made “in order to allow the festival to advance in its mission not only to promote Moroccan cinema, but also to open up to other cultures, an unavoidable reality of the Seventh Art [cinema].”
The period of suspension will be used to put in place new organisation that “takes into account the evolution of the digital world to better serve the vision and aims of the festival.”
Charitable and cultural activities run by the non-profit foundation, including residences for Moroccan scriptwriters and campaigns to reinforce international links, will continue despite the cancellation of the festival.
Rumors that the festival would be cancelled circulated weeks before the statement was issued on June 30, and were fuelled by knowledge that the contract of the festival’s co-organiser, The Public System Cinema, had expired and was not renewed.
Since its inauguration in 2002, the festival has welcomed notable cinematic personalities, including Francis Ford Coppola, Charlotte Rampling, Martin Scorsese and Marion Cotillard.
