Jesse Eisenberg’s “The Debut,” starring Julianne Moore as a shy housewife who is cast in a community theater musical and transforms into a zealous Method actor, has been set as the opening film of the 23rd Marrakech International Film Festival.

Eisenberg is expected to be on hand for the out-of-competition gala.

The fest, running from Nov. 20-28, will also feature the regional premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s “Artificial,” which traces the rise of OpenAI founder Sam Altman (played by Andrew Garfield). Guadagnino is a Marrakech regular, as is James Gray, who will also be returning with his crime thriller “Paper Tiger” starring Adam Driver and Miles Teller.

Other Marrakech gala screenings include two world premieres: Brazilian director Fellipe Barbosa’s“Leila et la nuit,” inspired by the life of Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui and starring Roschdy Zem and Marina Foïs; and Egyptian helmer Omar Hilal’s “His Weakest Creatures,” which pairs Egyptian stars Ahmed Helmy and Hend Sabry together on screen for the first time.

John Turturro will be making the trek to present Noah Segan’s “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” in which the actor delivers a standout performance as an aging pickpocket contending with the contemporary world. The section also includes Laïla Marrakchi’s “Strawberries,” which has been selected as Morocco’s Oscars entry and follows a group of Moroccan seasonal laborers hired to pick strawberries in Spain who decide to stand up to their abusive employers.

The Official Competition showcases new talent in world cinema with 14 first and second feature films competing for the Étoile d’Or, awarded by a jury headed by actor Marion Cotillard.

Three titles in the competition are world premieres: Sahara-set drama “Alkebulan,” by Moroccan director Yassine Marco Marroccu; Iranian-Norwegian filmmaker Farzad Samsami’s “Waves of Silence,” a Morocco-set drama about migrant shipwrecks; and “Cairo Shadows,” a political thriller set in the Coptic Christian community in Egypt, directed by Rani Massalha e Salem Massalha.

Marrakech competition entries that have surfaced elsewhere, and will be having their regional premiers, comprise Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo’s post-genocide drama “Ben’imana,” that premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes; Palestinian director Abdallah Alkhatib’s “Chronicles From the Siege” depicting desperation of Palestinian lives on the front lines; Rafiki Fariala’s Cannes standout title “Congo Boy,” about the musical dreams of a young Congolese refugee; and Lebanese director Rami Kodeih’s bank-heist thriller “Furies” that delves into the Lebanese economic crisis.

The Horizons section featuring 21 films “that demonstrate the vitality and diversity of world cinema,” as the festival put it, including several titles that have won top honors at Cannes and Venice, will showcase the latest works by top global auteurs, including Ryusuke Hamaguchi “All of a Sudden”; Cristian Mungiu “Fjord”; Pawel Pawlikowski (“Fatherland”); Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Look Back”); and Nanni Moretti (“It Happened One Night”). Arab cinema will be featured in the section with Egyptian director Mohammed Hammad’s psychological thriller “Safe Exit”; Sara Ishaq’s Yemen-set “The Station,” and Gaza-set doc “Citizen Osama,” directed by Ahmed Hassouna.

The Moroccan Panorama section will feature six works and open with Tala Hadid’s “Bardi,” about a traveling brotherhood of horsemen and theit journey across Morocco. A total of 11 Moroccan films are sprinkled across the fest’s various sections, in addition to three films shot in Morocco.

OFFICIAL COMPETITION

“Alkebulan” (world premiere)
by Yassine Marco Marroccu
Morocco, Hungary, Qatar

“Ben’Imana”
by Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo
Rwanda, Gabon, France, Norway

“Cairo Shadows”(world premiere)
by Rani Massalha & Salem Massalha
France, Belgium, Tunisia, Egypt

“Chronicles From The Siege”
by Abdallah Al-Khatib
Algeria, France, Palestine

“Congo Boy”
by Rafiki Fariala
Central African Republic, France, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Italy

“A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra”
by Jacqueline Lentzou
Greece, Germany, France

“Eklipse”
by Manuel Wetscher
Austria, Italy

“Furies”
by Rami Kodeih
Lebanon, Brazil

“House of the Wind”
by Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu
Cameroon, France, Belgium, Benin, Saudi Arabia, Qatar

“Marie Madeleine”
by Gessica Généus
France, Haiti, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada

“Our Share of Sand”
by Shalini Adnani
United Kingdom, India, Greece

“Sad Girlz”
by Fernanda Tovar
Mexico, Spain, France

“Waves of Silence” (world premiere)
by Farzad Samsami
Norway, Morocco, Sweden

“The World Before”
by Yoon Dan-bi
South Korea, Japan, France

GALA SCREENINGS

“The Debut” (opening film)by Jesse Eisenberg
U.S.

“Artificial”
by Luca Guadagnino
U.S. U.K., Italy

“His Weakest Creatures”(world premiere)
by Omar Hilal
UK, Egypt, Saudi Arabia

“Leila Et La Nuit” (world premiere)
by Fellipe Barbosa
France, Morocco, Brazil

“The Only Living Pickpocket in New York”
by Noah Segan
U.S.

“Paper Tiger”
by James Gray
U.S, Brazil, Italy

“Strawberries”
by Laïla Marrakchi
France, Morocco, Spain, Belgium

HORIZONS

“All of a Sudden”

by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
France, Japan, Germany, Belgium

“A Bit of Light”
by Ali Asgari
Iran, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Turkey

“The Burning Giants”
by Phuttiphong Aroonpheng
Thailand, Singapore, France, Netherlands

“Citizen Osama”
by Ahmed Hassouna

Palestine, France

“Clarissa”

by Arie Esiri & Chuko Esiri
Nigeria, U.S

“Dao”
by Alain Gomis
France, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau

“The Difficult Bride”
by Rubaiyat Hossain
France, Bangladesh, Portugal, Norway, Germany

“Everytime”
by Sandra Wollner
Germany, Austria

“Fatherland”
by Pawel Pawlikowski
Poland, Germany, Italy, France

“Fjord”
by Cristian Mungiu
Romania, France, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden

“Glaxo”

by Benjamín Naishtat
Argentina, Brazil

“It will Happen Tonight”
by Nanni Moretti
Italy, France, Spain

“Ketticè”

by Giovanni Tortorici
Italy

“A long Winter”
by Andrew Haigh
UK, Canada

“Look Back”
by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Japan

“The Roses of Marrakech”
by Ginevra Elkann
Italy, Morocco, France

“Safe Exit”
by Mohammed Hammad
Egypt, Libya, Qatar, Tunisia, Germany

“The Smell of Apples”
by John Trengove
South Africa, Netherlands, Chile

“The Station”
by Sara Ishaq
Yemen, Jordan, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Qatar

“That’s All Folks”
by Gustave Kervern
France

“Woman Unknown”

by May el-Toukhy
Denmark, Latvia, Sweden

THE 11TH CONTINENT

“9 Temples to Heaven”
by Sompot Chidgasornpongse
Thailand, Singapore, France, Norway, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Qatar

“Al Baraneya”
by Ashgan El-Hamus
Netherlands, Egypt, Belgium, Saudi Arabia

“Bedeau, Transit Camp”(world premiere)
by Yohana Benattar
France – Documentary


“The Diary of a Chambermaid”
by Radu Jude
France, Romania

“Edward Said: Between Worlds”
by Maiken Baird
U.S. Documentary

“Enough is Enough”
by Elisé Sawasawa
France, Democratic Republic of the Congo – Documentary

“I Deserve a Lover Whose Every Rise Sets Fiery Dooms Raging Across the Skies”
by Mani Haghighi
Iran – Documentary

“Nahla”
by Farouk Beloufa
Algeria – 1979

“Once Upon a Time in Harlem”
by William Greaves, David Greaves
U.S.– Documentary

“Only Rebels Win”
by Danielle Arbid
France, Lebanon, Qatar

“Tilaï”
by Idrissa Ouedraogo
Burkina Faso, Switzerland, France – 1990 – restored version

“Variations on a Theme”
by Jason Jacobs & Devon Delmar
South Africa, Netherlands, Qatar

“Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep”
by Rakan Mayasi
Belgium, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia

MOROCCAN PANORAMA

“Banou” (world premiere)
by Mouhssine El Badaoui
Belgium, Morocco – Documentary

“Bardi”
by Tala Hadid
Morocco, France, United States, Qatar – Documentary

“Halima”
by Yassine El Idrissi
Morocco

“Hoods”(world premiere)
by Mohamed Mouftakir
Morocco

“Man of Signs”(world premiere)
by Zhor Fassi-Fihri
Morocco, France

“Until Dawn”
by Mohamed Zineddaine
Morocco, Italy

CINEMA FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES & FAMILIES

“All But My Mother” (world premiere)
by Mohcine Besri
Morocco

“Girl in the Clouds”
by Philippe Riche
France, Belgium

“The Last Whale Singer”
by Reza Memari
Germany

“Look Back”
by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Japan

“Muyi”
by Julien Chheng
France

“Tummy Tom and the Lost Teddy Bear”
by Joost van den Bosch, Erik Verkerk
Netherlands, Belgium