Fascinated by the absence of photographs in her own family archives, director Asmae El Moudir recreates her childhood in her father's studio using a model of the street where they lived in Casablanca. What follows is an interesting and poignant look at the 1981 bread riot in Casablanca, which was brutally suppressed by the government.

The frail-looking grandmother seems to have played an important role, but not a very pretty one at a time of oppression when liquidations, arrests and torture were the order of the day. The intimate and unnatural setting of the recreated miniature neighborhood and the questions that the director asks herself, force the protagonists to relive events which lead to painful memories, new perspectives and sometimes also to clarification.

DIRECTOR: ASMAE EL MOUDIR; GENRE: DOCUMENTARY; 2024; MOROCCO, EGYPT, QATAR, SAUDI-ARABIA; 1H36; ARABIC - SUBTITLES NL+FR

AWARDS

The film was presented at Cannes, where it won the Golden Eye for best documentary. Asmae El Moudir also won the prize for best director in the Un Certain Regard section. At the Sydney Film Festival, the film received the Best Film award. In Valladolid it received the public prize. In Mons it won in the Extraordinary Documentary category and at the Athens International Film Festival, as well as in Durban and at The Hague Movies that Matter Festival it won the award for best documentary.

PRESS

"The Mother of All Lies is a painful but necessary confrontation with the past." (DE MORGEN)
"The Mother of All Lies intelligently connects a family story to a dark episode in Moroccan history." (DE VOLKSKRANT)
"The masterful Moroccan documentary The Mother of All Lies lifts the veil on a great secret." (TROUW)
"A captivating blend of animation, art installation and therapy." (DE STANDAARD)
"A massacre took place in Morocco 40 years ago and was immediately covered up. In this captivating documentary, Asmae El Moudir attempts to uncover the hidden truth." (DE TIJD)