Martin Scorsese skips the festive 20th edition of the Marrakesh Film Festival

Martin Scorsese canceled at the last minute his trip to the Marrakech International Film Festival, where he was to be present as a special guest of honor for the twentieth edition.

The director is a long-time supporter of the Moroccan festival and has visited it five times in the past.

He is also good friends with director Mélita Toscan du Plantier, who has been the driving force behind the event since the sudden death of her husband Daniel du Plantier, who founded the festival in 2001, at the Berlin Film Festival in 2003.

No reason was given for the last-minute cancellation, but sources close to the festival said the director stayed home in New York for personal reasons.

In addition to participating in this year’s 20th edition celebrations, Scorsese has also agreed to take over as patron of the sixth edition of Atlas Workshops, the festival’s industrial program dedicated to emerging talent from the African continent and the Arab world.

In this role he participated in mentoring sessions with the 25 project teams present.

Scorsese’s presence was intended to introduce a new initiative in which a major figure in world cinema would be invited to lead the Atlas workshops, and the participants would then bear the name of this year’s patron.

Therefore, the filmmakers of the Atlas Workshop 2023 would be known as Martin Scorsese’s class.

News of the director’s cancellation comes just hours after a star-studded opening ceremony led by president Jessica Chastain, where Willem Dafoe’s Mads Mikkelsen accepted the festival’s Etoile d’Or award.

Deadline understands that Scorsese informed the festival of his absence earlier in the day, but the event decided to break the news to Atlas Mountains attendees ahead of an official announcement.

The Marrakech Film Festival takes place from 24 November to 2 December.