Martin Scorsese Delays Marrakech Atlas Workshops Mentorship, Citing Personal Reasons

Martin Scorsese will no longer attend nor participate in the Marrakech Film Festival’s Atlas Workshops, citing personal reasons.

The award-winning filmmaker was slated to serve as artistic godfather for Marrakech’s industry arm, which spotlights development titles and works-in-progress from dynamic new talents from across the MENA world. Lending his name to this year’s class, Scorsese planned to mentor the selected filmmakers, offering one-on-one artistic and strategic advice for each and every project.

More from Variety

• Willem Dafoe Back on Festival Trail in Marrakech, Talks 'Poor Things,' Reveals Role in 'Beetlejuice 2' 

• Sandra Tabet's Horror Film 'Rabies' Explores the Apocalyptic Setting of 1990s Post-Civil War Beirut

• Atlas Workshops Roars Back With Genre Focus, Expanded U.S. Presence Includes A24 (EXCLUSIVE)

Unable to travel due to personal reasons, and preferring to engage with workshop participants in a more direct way, the filmmaker will take a rain check, promising to return, in person, for a subsequent edition. News broke from sources close to the Atlas team, while neither festival nor filmmaker are expected to make a formal statement.

Despite this recent turn, event organizers promise no further changes to a program that has quickly become a leading incubator for eye-turning fare.

Projects spotlighted at previous editions include Amjad Al Rasheed’s “Inshallah A Boy,” which premiered in Cannes’ Critics Week and will serve as Jordan’s Oscar selection, Lina Soualem’s “Bye Bye Tiberias,” which played Venice and Toronto, and will represent Palestine in the Oscar race, and Asmae El Moudir’s “The Mother of All Lies,” which claimed the best director prize out of this year’s Un Certain Regard in Cannes, and will serve as Morocco’s International Film Oscar entry.

“The idea is to have a proper platform that would allow these projects to have the time to develop and to meet international partners,” says Atlas Workshops director Hedi Zardi. “Over the course of four days we offer personal consultation panels, training and mentorships sessions and a coproduction market, all to help our selected filmmakers to share ideas, to develop their projects and to meet new and potential partners, launching the titles on the international market.”

Marrakech’s Atlas Workshops program will run from Nov. 27-30, while the wider festival goes until Dec. 3.

Best of Variety

• New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 

• Oscars Predictions: International Feature – AMPAS' Voting Groups are Set; Which Movies Have the Best Shot at Making the Shortlist?

• Oscars Predictions: Best Actor - Will the 10th (or 11th, 12th or 13th?) Time be the Winning Charm for Bradley Cooper in 'Maestro?'

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.