Korean Oscar winner Bong Joon Ho opened the 22nd Marrakech International Film Festival by looking back to his days as a film student, using that memory to frame his new role as jury president at an event now courting both global prestige and emerging voices.
The festival, which runs from November 28 to December 6, gathers 82 films from 31 countries across competition, gala and sidebar sections in the Moroccan city’s Congress Palace and other venues. Opening night featured Gus Van Sant’s “Dead Man’s Wire” and a packed red carpet where Bong walked with fellow jurors Jenna Ortega, Anya Taylor-Joy, Celine Song, Karim Aïnouz, Hakim Belabbes, Julia Ducournau and Payman Maadi.
Onstage, Bong invited the crowd to think about their own lives at 22 while describing himself at that age as a film student consuming several movies a day and interrogating each choice of camera position, performance and cut. He linked that curiosity to the energy of Marrakech’s 22nd edition, drawing a line between his student mindset and the festival’s focus on discovery.
Bong is the first Asian filmmaker to chair the Marrakech jury, a milestone for a festival that has a long relationship with Korean cinema, including past Golden Star wins for directors Park Jung-bum and Lee Su-jin. This year’s official competition gathers 14 first and second features from filmmakers across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, with stories that skew political, socially aware and formally adventurous.
Away from the competition, Bong will deliver a masterclass as part of the Conversations program, which hosts figures such as Guillermo del Toro, Jodie Foster, Karan Johar and Jafar Panahi for public talks on craft and career. Festival leadership has described the event as a bridge between established names and new talent, and as a platform for industry links through initiatives like the Atlas Workshops and newly created Atlas Distribution Meetings.
Prince Moulay Rachid, president of the festival foundation, has framed Marrakech as a place where cultures meet and emerging filmmakers from Morocco, the Arab world and Africa gain practical support. Coverage from Deadline and other outlets has stressed how the influx of A-listers and Oscar hopefuls sits alongside that mission. Supporters see Bong’s presence with a star-heavy jury as proof that the festival’s strategy is working; skeptics will watch to see how much of that visibility carries through to careers of the lesser-known directors whose films they are judging.
