★★★★★ Rated 4.5/5 — 204 Google reviews · 576 reviews · 5.0/5 on Tripadvisor · Written by a licensed Marrakech tour operator, on the road since 2011
Every late November, world cinema decamps to the red city. The Marrakech International Film Festival — FIFM — has grown into Africa’s most glamorous film event: premieres, an official competition for emerging auteurs, career tributes for legends, and the touch no other festival owns — free open-air screenings for thousands on Jemaa el-Fna itself.
The 2026 edition
The 23rd edition is announced for November 20–28, 2026, with Academy-Award-winner Bong Joon-ho presiding over the jury and tributes planned for Jodie Foster and Guillermo del Toro — details and accreditation on the official site.
Why it’s a traveller’s festival
Unlike fortress festivals, FIFM belongs partly to the street: the Jemaa el-Fna screenings cost nothing, star-spotting happens on riad rooftops, and late November is prime Marrakech weather — crisp mornings, golden afternoons, the connoisseur’s season.
The practical counsel
Book accommodation the moment your dates firm up — the palace hotels fill with delegations (La Mamounia included), and good riads follow. Public screenings are first-come; bring layers for the square after dark.
Building a trip around it
Film mornings free your afternoons: our private half-days — the palaces, the souks with a licensed guide, the Agafay sunset (€30) — are built to fit between screenings.
Coming to Morocco for the event? Tell us your dates on WhatsApp and we build the rest privately around your programme — guided city days, day trips, desert nights and transfers, never in a group. The mechanics are in our booking FAQ, and the full calendar lives on our Events in Morocco page.
Everything on this page can be woven into a private itinerary — start from historical sites of Morocco or book the 7-day Imperial Cities circuit, and we shape the rest around you.
Meryem Chami — Meryem writes itineraries with a planner's eye for the second visit — the routes for people who have already seen Marrakech and the dunes and want the country between them. She specialises in loops that avoid backtracking, coast-to-desert combinations, and the unglamorous logistics (fuel stops, prayer-time closures, market days) that make a route actually flow.
