Benkirane on the jury of “Critics’ Week”

Moroccan director and screenwriter Yasmine Benkirane has been selected to be a member of the jury of the “International Critics’ Week” at the Venice International Film Festival, which is scheduled to be held from August 28 to September 7.

The programme of this event, in which Benkirane is participating this year as a member of the jury, includes a selection of seven first-time films in the competition, and two special events outside the competition, which is an independent section parallel to the Venice Film Festival organised by the Italian Film Critics Association.

Yasmine Benkirane is one of the promising Moroccan names in the world of cinema. She presented her first feature film as a director, entitled “Queens,” in its world premiere at this prestigious festival. It was also selected for more than fifty national and international festivals.

The film “Queens” won a number of awards, most notably the First Work Award in 2023 at the National Film Festival in Tangier. It also won the Second Female Role Award, which was won by the young actress Nisreen Benchara.

Yasmine Benkirane said in a previous interview with Hespress that her feature film is an adventure film borrowed from action films, absurd comedy and fantasy poetry, and through it she aims to create Moroccan heroines like Greek mythology, adding that the film tells the story of three women pursued by the police on a long journey in which they will cross the Atlas Mountains region, its rocks and valleys to the far south and the Atlantic Ocean, and they are exposed to many events during their long escape journey.

Benkirane added that what inspired her to write the story was her extensive travel during her childhood and her seeing Moroccan trucks on the roads in an interesting way that hinted at something cinematic.

The film “Queens”, which recently benefited from the support, supervision and follow-up of the “Atlas Workshops” organized by the Marrakech International Film Festival, stars Nisrine Erradi, Nisrine Benchara, Rayhan Garan, Jalila Talemsi, Younes Chaara, Salima Benmoumen, Salman Harma, Abdelhak Saleh, Abdelrahim Tamimi and Hamid Nider.