Kleber Mendonça Filho will mentor 30 projects at Marrakech’s Atlas Workshops
The Secret Agent director has been named patron of the film festival’s ninth Atlas Workshops, which will bring projects from 14 countries to Marrakech.
Kleber Mendonça Filho, the Brazilian director of The Secret Agent, has been named patron of the ninth Atlas Workshops in Marrakech, Morocco. He will mentor filmmakers behind a newly announced selection of 30 projects from 14 countries when the film festival’s development program meets November 22–26, 2026.
The selection stretches beyond projects still on the page: Deadline reports that 14 are in development, 11 are in production or post-production, and five belong to Atlas Close-Ups, a section devoted to Moroccan cinema.
What Kleber Mendonça Filho will do in Marrakech
As patron, Mendonça Filho will work with the participating filmmakers, Variety and Deadline report. The Atlas Workshops are the Marrakech Film Festival’s platform for developing Moroccan, Arab and African cinema. Deadline says previous patrons include directors Cristian Mungiu and Jeff Nichols.
Mendonça Filho attended the festival last year with The Secret Agent. Reflecting on that visit, he said, ‘Listening to new ideas and understanding the aspirations of new generations of filmmakers is a source of inspiration for my own work,’ according to Deadline.
Which projects are in the Atlas Workshops lineup?
The 14 projects in development include 12 fiction films and two documentaries, Variety reports. Six are debut feature films. Variety names filmmakers Amjad Abu Alala, Laila Abbas, Meryem Benm’Barek, Sofia Alaoui and Yasmine Benkiran among those with projects in this group.
The participating countries are Algeria, Cabo Verde, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Syria and Tunisia, according to Deadline. The Moroccan focus continues in Atlas Close-Ups, whose five projects comprise four fiction films and one documentary, Variety reports.
Four films now in production or post-production were previously at the workshops as development projects, Deadline reports: Samuel Ishimwe’s Seasons of the Weary Kind, Alaa Eddine Aljem’s Eldorado, Yoro Mbaye’s Fagadaga and Ismaël El Iraki’s Wolfmother. Their return shows how this year’s selection includes filmmakers at different stages of making a film.
When the Atlas Workshops begin
Before the Marrakech gathering, online sessions are scheduled for November 2–6 to brief participants on developments in independent film, Deadline reports. The in-person workshops follow November 22–26. Deadline also reports that Atlas Station will support eight emerging Moroccan producers and directors and showcase five short-film projects.
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Sources and context
- ‘The Secret Agent’ Director Kleber Mendonça Filho to Be Patron of Marrakech Film Festival’s Atlas WorkshopsVariety
- Kleber Mendonça Filho To Mentor Marrakech Atlas Workshops, + LineupDeadline
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.