‘Kadib Abyad,’ ‘Les Meutes’ in Cannes’ official selection

The feature films “Kadib Abyad” (The Mother of All Lies) by Moroccan director Asmae El Moudir and “Les Meutes” by Kamal Lazraq have been selected in the “a certain look” category of the official selection of the 76th Cannes Film Festival, scheduled for May 16 to 21.

The new president of the festival, Iris Knobloch, and her general delegate, Thierry Frémaux, unveiled, at a press conference on Thursday, the list of feature films selected in Competition, Out of Competition, Un certain Regard, Midnight Screenings, Cannes Premiere and Special Screenings.

“Les Meutes”, Kamal Lazraq’s first film, and “Kadib Abyad” (doc-fiction) will thus be in contention in the “un certain regard” section alongside 15 other productions.

“Les Meutes”, which was awarded on screenplay as part of the Prix à la Création de la Gan Foundation 2021, tells the story of Hassan and Issam, father and son, who try to survive from day to day, chaining small trafficking for the local underworld in the popular suburbs of Casablanca.

One evening, a man they had to kidnap accidentally dies in their car. Hassan and Issam find themselves with a corpse to disappear.

Then begins a long night through the shallows of the city.

In “Kadib Abyad”, Asmae, a young Moroccan director, goes to her parents’ house in Casablanca to help them move. Once in her childhood home, she begins to sort out her old things. Suddenly, Asmae comes across a photo: children smiling in the courtyard of a kindergarten. Almost outside the frame is a little girl sitting on a bench, who timidly looks at the camera.

This photo is the only image of his childhood, the only memory that his mother was able to transmit to him. But Asmae is convinced that she is not the child in this image. In order to make her parents talk, Asmae introduces her camera and plays with this intimate incident to evoke other memories in which she does not believe either. This photo becomes the starting point of an investigation during which the director questions all the little lies her family told her. Little by little, Asmae explores the memory of his neighborhood and his country.

A total of 19 films were selected in official competition, which could be joined by a twentieth, Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.

This film is currently planned out of competition, but the festival would like to see it compete for the golden palm, said the festival’s general delegate at the press conference.

This 76th edition is chaired by Swedish director Ruben Östlund, who succeeds French actor Vincent Lindon.