Mohamed Njeim (Rabat)
The Moroccan film “White Lies” by director Asma El-Moudir won three awards from the Mediterranean Film Festival “Med Film”, which concluded its 20th session in the Italian capital, Rome, with the participation of a number of countries belonging to the Mediterranean.
The film “White Lies” won the Valentina Pedicini Award for Best First and Second Work, the Creative Excellence Award, and the Artistic Expression Award, as the jury said that it awarded the Best Film Award to “White Lies” (2023) so that its director, Asmaa Al-Mudair, could “contribute to the recovery process.” “Creativity for individual and collective memory, and I did this by directing an amazing cinematic documentary with artistic maturity.”
While receiving the award, Moroccan director Asmaa Al-Moudir expressed her joy at this coronation by a prestigious international festival, saying that her film carries an artistic and humanitarian message and represents Morocco in the “Oscars” awards and in the official competition of the Marrakesh International Film Festival, explaining that it is one of the films that won awards. International, including the Best Direction Award in the “Un Certain Regard” and “Golden Eye” competitions for the 76th Cannes Film Festival, the Grand Prix at the 70th Sydney Film Festival, the Best Documentary Award from the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa, and the Jury Prize for the International Film Festival. Documentary film of the French Valenciennes Festival.
The film “White Lies” tells the story of the director’s return to her parents’ house in Casablanca, to help them move to another house, only to find a picture adorning the walls of the house of smiling children in a schoolyard, including a young girl looking at the camera shyly, which represents the only picture of the director as a child. But she has conviction or doubts that she is not the child in this picture. Therefore, she resorts to talking to her parents in the hope that she may reach the truth, and then Asmaa moves through her cameras from this intimate event to a painful event that reminds her of her distant childhood.
In addition to Moroccan director Asma El-Moudir and her film “White Lies,” the festival witnessed remarkable participation from a number of Moroccan films, including: the short film “Ayur” by Zainab Wakrim in the “Methixis” competition, “Summer Days” by Faouzi Bensaidi, and “Behind “The Scenes” by Afaf Ben Mahmoud and Khalil Benkirane in the “Atlanta” films category.
