Who is Maryam Touzani, the Moroccan director on the Cannes jury?

Touzani’s latest film The Blue Caftan is leading nominations at the Critics Awards for Arab Films

Moroccan director Maryam Touzani is on the jury at this year's Cannes Film Festival. AFP

Moroccan director and screenwriter Maryam Touzani will be part of the 76th Cannes Film Festival jury, alongside eight others from the industry.

The jury will decide who will be awarded the Palme d’or prize, from one of the 21 films announced in competition. The event in Cannes, France begins on Tuesday and runs until May 27.

Touzani, who is from Tangier, comes from a journalist background and started her career writing about movies. She then began writing scripts and directing short films and documentaries. After a number of critically acclaimed documentaries such as Sous Ma Peau Vieille, which looked at the lives of street workers in Morocco, Touzani directed her first feature film Adam in 2019.

The film takes place in Morocco and follows the story of Samia, a young unwed mother who is pregnant, at a time where it was illegal to be so. She is then taken in by a widowed baker named Abla.

The film was selected for the Cannes Film Festival in the section Un Certain Regard, which recognises films with unique styles and non-traditional stories. Adam was also selected as Morocco's entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards.

Touzani then co-wrote and stared in the film Razzia, directed by her husband and filmmaker Nabil Ayouch. She also co-wrote Casablanca Beats, a film about breaking free from tradition through hip-hop culture.

Her most recent project was the highly acclaimed The Blue Caftan released last year. The film centres around a middle-aged couple whose life is disrupted when they hire a handsome apprentice for their tailoring business.

The film was selected for Un Certain Regard at Cannes and long-listed in the International Feature Film category at the Academy Awards. It is nominated forBest Film and Best Director at the seventh Critics Awards for Arab Films.

Touzani will serve as a jury member alongside actress Brie Larson, actor/director Paul Dano, Swedish director Ruben Ostlund, French director Julia Ducournau, Afghani director Atiq Rahimi, French actor Denis Menochet, British-Zambian screenwriter Rungano Nyoni and Argentine writer Damian Szifron.