"This year, on the occasion of the Festival’s 20th edition, the Étoile d’Or will be awarded to two exceptional personalities to recognise their significant contributions to the art of cinema: celebrated and world renowned Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen; and talented, poetic Moroccan director Faouzi Bensaïdi," said the organizers in a press release on Tuesday.

Mads Mikkelsen is among those rare contemporary actors who has found success in alternating roles in Hollywood blockbusters and European art-house films, said the same source, adding that his audacity, his magnetism, and his ability to reinvent himself with brilliance from one film to the next make him one of the most fascinating and popular actors of his generation.

Often choosing complex roles, Mikkelsen intrigues, terrifies, or charms from role to role and is now the best-known Danish actor in the world, adds the release.

For almost 25 years, Faouzi Bensaïdi has enjoyed an exemplary career both in front of and behind the camera. A beacon of Moroccan cinema at home, he is also one of its most illustrious representatives on the international scene, and sees his films selected on a regular basis for the world’s most prestigious festivals, from Cannes to Berlin via Toronto and Venice, according to the organizers.

A master of the poetic-burlesque, Bensaïdi has patiently and confidently built a remarkable body of work of great singularity and profound humanity, noted the source.

“Dear Marrakech International Film Festival – It is such an honour to be invited, once again, to your beautiful festival. Last time was part of a celebration of Danish filmmakers; this time, it’s a personal award. Although I’m probably going to dedicate it to everyone I’ve ever worked with, I do feel extraordinarily proud that it was my name you came up with as someone who deserves celebration. Proud, honoured and so fortunate, that in a short while I will meet friends and colleagues and some of my all-time heroes in beautiful Marrakech. Can’t wait!”, Mads Mikkelsen said, quoted in the release.

“Marrakech is a city of a thousand stories, and the film festival is one of them. It is a brilliantly bright city that is open to humanity and that never ceases renewing itself and creating new pathways and avenues. I, too, have weaved my way through my own, intimate story with this beautiful festival. It is with great pride that I have presented all my films here, and I am very grateful for the festival’s loyalty and friendship. I thank the Marrakech International Film Festival for distinguishing our long-time connection with this tribute – an immense honour for me. I am both pleased and moved to receive it in my homeland, in one of the world’s most precious cinema events. As well, I look forward to sharing my most recent film, Deserts – itself made up of a thousand stories – with all festival attendees,” said, for his part, Bensaïdi about his upcoming participation in the festival.

Since its launch in 2001, the Marrakech International Film Festival has paid tribute annually to the greatest names of Moroccan and international cinema.