(KADIB ABYAD)
THE MOTHER OF ALL LIES
Documentary, Biography and Drama | Running Time: 96 minutes
2023 / Arabic
Country: Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar
Directed by: Asmae El Moudir
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Asmae Elmoudir is a Moroccan director, screenwriter and producer, graduate of the Moroccan Film Academy and the French film school La Fémis. In 2020, she directed her first feature film, La Carte postale (IDFA, Durban Int. Film Festival, FIDADOC, etc.). In 2022, she was awarded the Netflix Equity Fund for her project The Mother of All Lies, currently in post-production; and was able to participate in numerous festivals and co-production markets with her projects and films (Venice Film Festival, Cannes Film Market, IDFA academy, IDFA summer school, IDFA project space, Hot doc's Lab, Medimed Barcelona, Red Sea Souk, Doha lab producers, Pitching du Réel, Atlas workshops, JCC chabaka, etc.).
ProducerAsmae El Moudir, Mark Lotfy
CastZahra , Mohamed El Moudir, Ouardia Zorkani, Abdallah Ez Zouid, Said Masrour, Asmae El Moudir
ScriptwriterAsmae 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.