Marrakech Film Festival Bolsters African and Arab Distribution With Launch of Atlas Distribution Award (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Ben Croll The Marrakech Film Festival’s industry-focused Atlas Workshops will complement its existing support for development and production with the Atlas Distribution Award – a brand-new initiative meant to fuel wider domestic and international distribution for the Moroccan, Arab and Pan-African films presented at the festival.

Taking inspiration from similar European schemes, the Marrakech Foundation will offer financial incentives to regional distributors releasing festival-selected titles.

The grant will offer up to $5,500 per film and territory, with a global cap of $11,000 for multi-territory releases. In order to qualify, distributers need to present provisional distribution strategy and commit to a wide-release — with a flexible definition of that term, given territorial particularities — within a 12-month window following the close of each edition.

All Middle East and African films presented at the festival will be eligible, while Atlas Workshops director Hédi Zardi tells Variety that he expects to award up to 15 projects in this year’s inaugural class.