THE MOTHER OF ALL LIES
Genre
Documentary, Biography and Drama
Running time
96 minutes
Year
2023
Language
Arabic
Subtitle
English
Country
Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar
Director
Asmae El Moudir
Bio
Producer
Asmae El Moudir, Mark Lotfy
Cast
Zahra , Mohamed El Moudir, Ouardia Zorkani, Abdallah Ez Zouid, Said Masrour, Asmae El Moudir
Scriptwriter
Asmae El Moudir
Family secrets and national shame blend and reflect each other in this inventive, involving documentary. Frustrated and mystified that there are no photographs of her as a child, the director sets about building an intricate model of the house and neighborhood where she grew up in Casablanca. It is a project that soon involves friends and family – including El Moudi’s terrifying grandmother, a late-blooming star - who start to recall fragments of a wider forgotten history: the Casablanca bread riots of 1981 in which an estimated 600 people died. Traumatic events that have long been shrouded in silence are brought to light, often with laughter: the truth is painful, but also healing.
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