Four rising directors show how North African cinema is changing

At this year’s Marrakech International Film Festival, a new generation of Moroccan filmmakers is drawing attention from critics and buyers well beyond North Africa. Four directors in particular—Leyna Tahiri, Driss Ramdi, Youssef Michraf and Meriame Essadak—have emerged as key names to watch, each bringing a distinct visual style and political sensibility to the screen. Their work ranges from intimate family dramas to genre-bending tales that mix folklore, migration stories and social satire. Industry watchers say the group reflects how Moroccan cinema has moved beyond art-house curiosities to a pipeline of projects that can travel to European and Middle Eastern markets, while still speaking directly to local audiences.

The festival itself has grown in parallel with the country’s film infrastructure. Since its launch in 2001, Marrakech has positioned itself as a bridge between Arab, African and European cinema, supported by Morocco’s increasingly busy film studios and location services. Tax incentives and relatively diverse landscapes—from Atlantic coasts to Atlas mountains and desert—have long drawn international productions. What feels different now, programmers say, is that local directors are no longer content just to host foreign shoots; they are using the same resources to tell their own stories with higher production values and bolder scripts. International sales agents at this year’s edition are eyeing Moroccan titles not just for festival slots, but for streaming and limited theatrical runs.

Each of the highlighted directors represents a different facet of that shift. Tahiri’s work has drawn praise for its portrayal of young women navigating conservative social expectations, often using dreamlike imagery rather than explicit confrontation. Ramdi’s films lean into genre, blending crime and dark comedy in urban settings that feel both familiar and slightly surreal. Michraf’s projects have focused on migration and displacement, following characters who shuttle between Europe and North Africa and find themselves belonging fully to neither. Essadak, meanwhile, has explored family secrets and rural life, bringing a slow-burn pacing more commonly associated with European festival cinema into stories rooted in Moroccan towns and villages.

The international attention matters for Morocco’s broader cultural diplomacy and creative economy. A strong showing at Marrakech can lead to residencies, co-production deals and streaming acquisitions that help sustain careers between projects. It also complicates clichés about “Arab cinema” by foregrounding diverse, sometimes contradictory perspectives within a single national scene. For younger viewers at home, seeing Moroccan names in festival lineups and global trade publications can make a creative path feel more realistic. The challenge now, insiders say, is to build sustainable funding and distribution systems so that the buzz around a handful of talents turns into a durable wave—and not just a festival season trend.