“Les Meutes”, the first feature film by Moroccan director Kamal Lazraq, and “Kadib Abyad” (The mother of all lies) by his compatriot Asmae El Moudir won the Jury Prize and the Director’s Prize respectively of the “Un Certain Regard” section, of the official selection of the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.
The awards were presented to the winners at a ceremony on Friday. “The Animal Kingdom” by Thomas Cailley opened this year’s section, which ended in style with the screening of the film “One Night” by Alex Lutz.
Celebrating auteur and discovery cinema, “Un Certain Regard” 2023 offered 20 feature films in its selection.
Chaired by American actor John C. Reilly, the Jury was made up of French director and screenwriter Alice Winocour, German actress Paula Beer, Franco-Cambodian director and producer Davy Chou and Belgian actress Émilie Dequenne.
“Les Meutes”, which was awarded for the screenplay as part of the 2021 Gan Foundation Creation Prize, tells the story of Hassan and Issam, father and son, who try to survive from day to day, chaining the little ones trafficking for the local underworld in the popular suburbs of Casablanca. One night, a man they were supposed to kidnap accidentally dies in their car. Hassan and Issam find themselves with a corpse to make disappear. Then begins a long night through the slums of the city.
Incarnated by two non-professional actors, Ayoub Elaid and Abdellatif Masstouri, whose presence and intensity were hailed, this drama immerses the spectators in an eventful night through the streets of the economic capital of the Kingdom.
“Kadib Abyad” tells the story of Asmae, a young Moroccan director, who goes to her parents’ home in Casablanca to help them move. Once in her childhood home, she begins to sort through her old things. Suddenly, she comes across a photo: children smiling in the courtyard of a kindergarten. Almost out of frame, there is a little girl sitting on a bench, looking shyly at the camera.
This photo is the only image of his childhood, the only memory that his mother was able to pass on to him. But Asmae is convinced that she is not the child in this image. In order to get her parents talking, Asmae introduces her camera and plays with this intimate incident to evoke other memories, which she doesn’t believe either. This photo becomes the starting point of an investigation during which the director questions all the little lies told to her by her family. Little by little, Asmae explores the memory of her neighborhood and her country.
Moroccan cinema is notably represented at this 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, whose closing ceremony will take place on Saturday, by director Maryam Touzani, who is part of the official competition jury.
The seventh national art is also present on the Croisette through the feature film “Déserts” by Faouzi Bensaïdi, which appears in the 55th selection of the “Quinzaine des Cinéastes”.
The post Cannes Film Festival: The award-winning Moroccan films “Les Meutes” and “Kadib Abyad” appeared first on MoroccoLatestNews Français – Actualités du Maroc.