The Marrakech Film Festival 2016
Capturing Breath on Film
The Marrakech Film Festival is not just about celebrating the films that were made. This project is to capture the breath, heartbeat and the soul of the Film Festival which is comprised of Directors, Actors, The translator, the Press photographers, The journalists, the Make up Artists, The Doorman and so many more individuals that breathe life into this extraordinary event. My intention was to create Portraits using both my 4x5 Camera and a vintage Polaroid SX-70 Camera with Long Exposures of 1 second or more. I would be capturing their breath, heartbeat, thoughts, dreams, ideas and the essence of what lives in between the words - on that single piece of film. Creating a collection of images that aren't the typical slick photos for entertainment news, but instead creating evidence of the pulse of this place and the people in it.
This project is a part of a larger global project I started in August 2016 to capture the breath, heartbeat, dreams, wishes and intentions of the planet. Even though we come from different cultures, belief systems, religious affiliations, political beliefs...we ALL are connected as we all breathe, we all have a heart beating and we all have dreams, wishes and intentions - even when they don't align with each others. This is a project to create evidence of this collective breath, heartbeat and prayer.
This Collective Breath of the Marrakech Film Festival represents talent and heart from Africa, Argentina, Italy, USA, Iran, Russia, Spain and Morocco
1. Abderrahmane Sissako, Africa, (born 13 October 1961) is a Mauritanian film director and producer. One of the few filmmakers from Africa to reach a measure of international influence. He is best known for Timbuktu (2014), Waiting for Happiness (2002) and Life on Earth (1998).
2. Lisandro Alonso ,Argentina, was born on June 2, 1975 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a director and producer, known for Jauja (2014), Freedom (2001) and Los Muertos (2004). He was a Juror at the Marrakech Film Festival 2016. “My cinema has this tint because I am seeking distant places, which move away from fiction, in order to open a gap between the factual and the psychological. I don’t believe a lot in the verbal, speech, the words that human beings utter. Rather, I believe in acts and in what I see. […] Words aren’t enough for me to express what I see, what’s inside me, even if I don’t want to impose a discourse or a meaning on my films. […] What I love most is observing without interposing. Cinema allows me to approach those who I don’t encounter every day, the marginal without culture, education, or health. I have to earn their trust for some moments that are ephemeral, yet which are worth everything to me.”
3. Riccardo Scamarcio, Italy. was born on November 13, 1979 in Andria, Puglia, Italy. He is an actor and producer, known for John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), Loose Cannons (2010) and Burnt (2015).
4. Anna Rose Holmer, NYC, USA. She grew up in upstate New York (USA) and pursued photography and film studies at University of New York. She then worked as a director, producer, and camerawoman on documentary, narrative, commercial, and experimental content. With filmmaker Matt Wolf, she co-directed and produced the short documentary A Ballet in Sneakers: Jerome Robbins and Opus Jazz, which premiered at SXSW 2010. The same year, she directed her first documentary feature, Twelve Ways to Sunday. The Fits is her fiction feature debut.
5. Massoumeh Lahidji, Iran. is a freelance interpreter and translator, specializing in film. She works in five languages. She has been the permanent interpreter of the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes since 2007. Her role includes introducing and moderating the Q&A sessions of all the films, along with the artistic director of the festival. She regularly works in many other international film festivals, where she moderates press conferences and masterclass (Deauville, La Rochelle, Les Arcs in France, but also Locarno, Marrakech, Toronto, NYFF). Massoumeh has worked with directors such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Abel Ferrara, David Cronenberg, Steven Soderbergh, John Boorman, Stephen Frears, Werner Herzog, Abbas Kiarostami and actors including Harvey Keitel, Dustin Hoffman, Jim Carrey, Forest Whitaker, Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep. Massoumeh has also adapted screenplays for international productions (Certified Copy, The Past) and worked as a go-between for directors and actors on multilingual shootings (Certified Copy, Bird People). She wrote the subtitles for Winter Sleep, this year's Palme d'or in Cannes.
6. Pavel Lounguine, Russia. Born in 1949 in Moscow into a screenwriting family, Pavel Lungin emerged onto the auteur scene when he won the 1990 Best Director award at the Festival de Cannes for his first film, Taxi Blues, dealing with the throes of the post-Communist era. From then on, his work focused on describing the evolution in his country, encompassing social and political satire against the backdrop of a society in perpetual crisis. With Tycoon: A New Russian, he denounced the practices of today’s Russian mafia, while in The Island, which screened at the Venice Film Festival in 2006, he tackled orthodox mysticism and explored the notion of saintliness through a lyrical and majestic work.
7. Natasha Huang Smith, NYC, NY, USA. Journalist for Pop Sugar and Harpers Bazaar Magazine. Natasha focuses on Culture, Travel, Dining, Relationship, Love. A Partner at Connectors and Creators. She is constantly on the go and experiences and reviews the hottest hotels, spas, restaurants, honeymoon destinations, Film Festivals and more.
8. Junior Cedeno, Spain. International Make Up Artist for Dior. Junior travels the world with a smile on his heart that oozes from his warm personality. He is a talent celebrated by actors and actresses that lean on him at all of the film festivals around the globe.
9. Emily Barasch, NYC, USA. Contributing Writer for Vogue, The Coveteur, i-d, Milk, Violet Book, mic.com etc.
10. Mehdi Triqui, Morocco. Street and Travel photographer. Press photographer at the Marrakech Film Festival 2016. Mehdi craves learning and never stops leaning into a place, an event, a culture a human being to find what is at the core of these people, places and things and how can he best shine a light on them through the lens of his cameras. Mehdi is currently traveling the world with his cameras and his deep insights into the human condition and of himself. Always seeking to grow both inside and out.