Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother of All Lies revisits a painful chapter in Moroccan history, blending personal memory with collective experience and weaving together documentary, visual art, and storytelling. At its core, the film stages a confrontation within the director’s own family, as they grapple with what has been lost and the consequences that continue to shape their lives.

Told with honesty and striking artistry, the film reconstructs fragments of the past—its places, people, stories, and secrets—as miniature models. Through this process, it carries viewers on a journey through loss, absence, and revelation, toward a reckoning and a fragile reconciliation: with oneself, with family, and with a moment in history that left its mark on an entire society.

The film is in Moroccan Arabic with subtitles in Modern Standard Arabic and English. A discussion with the director will follow the screening.

Asmae El Moudir is a Moroccan film director and screenwriter who studied at La Fémis in Paris. She has directed several award-winning short films, and The Mother of All Lies is her first feature-length documentary. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Director Prize in the Un Certain Regard section as well as the Golden Eye Award for Best Documentary. It went on to be shortlisted for the Academy Award in the International Feature category and was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival. El Moudir has been nominated for both the PGA Award and the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary, and recently received the IDA Award for Best Director. In 2023, she also served on the Un Certain Regard jury at Cannes and on the International Competition jury at IDFA.