TEHRAN -- Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami will head the jury of the 9th Marrakech International Film Festival to be held from December 4 to 12.

Kiarostami won the Palme d’Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival for “Taste of Cherry”.
Kiarostami has received worldwide acclaim for the simplicity and psychological depth of his work. Using spectacular filmed backdrops, he creates the world of Mozart’s popular comic opera in a beautiful period setting.
Marrakech’s International Film Festival takes over Place Djemaa el-Fna. The city’s famous central square, normally home to snake charmers, storytellers and other spectacles, is transformed into an open-air cinema.
Festival visitors in the past have included Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Susan Sarandon, David Lynch and many others.