
Morocco has selected Asmae El Moudir’s documentary film The Mother of All Lies as its official entry for the upcoming Oscars in the International Feature Film category. The film received massive appreciation from those who watched it at Cannes after it launched in May at the festival in the Cannes Un Certain Regard section.
The filmThe Mother of All Lies starts with El Moudir wanting to know why she has only one photograph from her childhood, and why the girl in the picture isn’t even her. To get to the bottom of it, El Moudir and her father build a miniature set that recreates their neighbourhood, and bring the whole family to the soundstage where it is built. The woman then starts to ask questions from her friends and family, make relatives relive her childhood, narrate stories from the past and unravel the truth. She then begins to interrogate the tales that her mother, father and grandmother have told all her life about their home and their country, starting to understand the layers of deception and intentional forgetting that have shaped her life.
El Moudir is a Paris- and Rabat-based director, screenwriter and producer. Previously, she has directed short documentaries for SNRT, Al Jazeera Documentary, BBC and Al Araby TV. The Mother of All Lies is her first feature.
As for the Oscars, The Academy will announce the shortlisted films, a total of 15 on December 21. Final nominees will be announced on January 23, 2024. The 96th Academy Awards are set to take place on March 10, 2024.
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