DUBAI: French Moroccan dancer Hajiba Fahmy, who has worked extensively with US superstar Beyonce, hit the red carpet at the Marrakech International Film Festival on Sunday alongside French Algerian actress Lyna Khoudri.
Fahmy has danced alongside Beyonce on tour and also took part in the singer’s 2018 Coachella performance. This week, Fahmy appeared in Morocco to attend the prominent film festival that showcases cinema from Morocco, the Middle East and Africa. Throughout the week, organizers will honor Moroccan director Faouzi Bensaidi and workshop films from throughout the region in a developmental program that was set to be presided over by director Martin Scorsese, who has since pulled out due to personal reasons.
Hajiba Fahmy stars in ‘Backstage,’ co-directed by Afef Ben Mahmoud and Khalil Benkirane. Supplied
This year’s jury includes US actress Jessica Chastain, Iranian actress Zar Amir, French actress and comedian Camille Cottin, Australian actor and director Joel Edgerton, British director Joanna Hogg, US director Dee Rees, Swedish filmmaker Tarik Saleh and Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgard.
Fahmy stars in “Backstage,” a co-production between Morocco, Tunisia, Belgium, France, Qatar, Norway and Saudi Arabia, that is screening at the festival.
Directed by Afef Ben Mahmoud and Khalil Benkirane, the film will make its way to Jeddah’s Red Sea International Film Festival next week.
In the movie, co-director and dancer Afef Ben Mahmoud plays Aida, a star dancer whose partner Hedi (played by renowned Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui) injures her — maybe by accident, maybe on purpose — on stage in a small Middle Atlas town. The whole company must make its way through a forest to the nearest medical help.
Fahmy was photographed on the red carpet with Khoudri, who rose to prominence in her role as Nedjma in Mounia Meddour’s critically acclaimed drama “Papicha.” For her work in the film, she won the Orizzonti Award for best actress at the 74th Venice Film Festival, and she was nominated in the Cesar Awards’ most promising actress category.
Khoudri also starred in the 2019 mini-series “Les Sauvages” and in 2016’s “Blood on the Docks.”
Notably, she was cast in Wes Anderson’s 2021 comedy “The French Dispatch” alongside Hollywood stars Timothee Chalamet, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, and Owen Wilson.
In 2023, she was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category at the 48th Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent of the Oscars.
