Jesse Eisenberg’s “The Debut” will open the 23rd Marrakech International Film Festival, running from Nov. 20 to 28. Julianne Moore stars as a shy housewife who joins a community theater musical and becomes an intense Method actor. Eisenberg and Moore are expected to attend the out-of-competition gala screening.

The festival will host the regional premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s “Artificial,” a film about the rise of OpenAI founder Sam Altman, played by Andrew Garfield. James Gray will also return to Marrakech with “Paper Tiger,” a crime thriller starring Adam Driver and Miles Teller.

The gala program includes two world premieres: “Leila et la nuit,” directed by Brazilian filmmaker Fellipe Barbosa and inspired by the life of Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui, with Roschdy Zem and Marina Foïs in the cast; and Egyptian director Omar Hilal’s “His Weakest Creatures,” which marks the first on-screen pairing of Egyptian actors Ahmed Helmy and Hend Sabry.

John Turturro will present Noah Segan’s “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” in which he plays an aging pickpocket facing the contemporary world. The section will also screen Laïla Marrakchi’s “Strawberries,” Morocco’s Oscars entry, about Moroccan seasonal workers in Spain who confront abusive employers.

The Official Competition will feature 14 first or second films competing for the Étoile d’Or, with a jury headed by actor Marion Cotillard. Three entries will have their world premieres: Yassine Marco Marroccu’s Sahara-set drama “Alkebulan”; Farzad Samsami’s Morocco-set migrant drama “Waves of Silence”; and “Cairo Shadows,” a political thriller set within Egypt’s Coptic Christian community and directed by Rani Massalha and Salem Massalha.

Other competition selections include Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo’s post-genocide drama “Ben’imana,” Abdallah Alkhatib’s “Chronicles From the Siege,” Rafiki Fariala’s “Congo Boy” and Rami Kodeih’s bank-heist thriller “Furies.” The films previously premiered at festivals including Cannes and will receive their regional premieres in Marrakech.

Sources: Variety.