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The documentary is directed by Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moud.

Vienna-based documentary sales outfit Autlook has snapped up world rights for The Mother Of All Lies, which will receive its world premiere in Un Certain Regard at this month’s Cannes Film Festival.

The documentary is directed by Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir. In the film, El Moudir painstakingly recreates her Casablanca neighbourhood on a handmade set, enlisting family and friends to help solve the troubling mysteries of her childhood.

Autlook Filmsales acquired global rights, not including all rights on the Mena region and France.

“The audience and the market...

The prestigious Visions du Réel film festival in Nyon, Switzerland wraps up this weekend, after hosting the world premiere of dozens of documentaries.

One of those world premieres, the feature documentary Amany, Behind the Lines, centers on Amany Al-Ali, considered to be the first female cartoonist in Idlib, Syria. Her city became a hotbed of protest against the regime of Bashar al-Assad beginning in 2011 in the midst of the Arab Spring and, despite enormous risk, Al-Ali has used her cartooning skill to critique the chaotic developments in Idlib for a dozen years now.

Alisar Hasan and Alaa Amer directed the 73-minute long feature documentary.

Cartoonist Amany Al-Ali

Amany Al-Ali “draws the life of her town, a bastion of jihadist groups that are attempting to overthrow President Assad since 2011,” the Visions du Réel program notes. “Armed with her pen, she is struggling against Islamist authority and traditional patriarchy. But for how...

The trailer (below) for “Draw for Change!” – which was named best documentary series at Canneseries this week – has debuted. The feature film version of the first of its six episodes, “Behind the Lines,” will world premiere at Visions du Réel Film Festival on April 28.

The series, from creators Guillaume Vandenberghe and Vincent Coen, profiles six female cartoonists working in six geographic areas of the world, in six individual films and broadcast episodes. Female directors with close connections to each of the societies represented were chosen to tell the stories.

Autlook Film Sales is handling international sales.

“After decades of male directed series on male artists, this series brings us stories about female artists from a female perspective,” producer Hanne Phlypo said. “The stakes are very high for these artists, and championing them by telling their stories is our contribution to empowering global democracy – one laugh at a time.”

Vandenberghe and...

Norwegian political satire “Power Play” proved unbeatable at Canneseries, just like its headstrong protagonist, picking up awards for best series and music.

The show, focusing on Norway’s first female Prime Minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, and starting out in the 1970s, turned out to be a timely proposition, as noted by showrunner Johan Fasting, who co-wrote with Silje Storstein and Kristin Grue.

“It’s hard to persevere in politics, especially for women. We wanted to go behind the scenes of social democracy as well, see how it has dissolved and turned into what we have today. It felt like the right time to look at the mechanisms of power,” he told Variety earlier this week.

While the show delves into local politics, its youthful “punk” attitude and humor, which already drew early comparisons to the works of Armando Iannucci, seems to have paid off, seducing jurors Lior Raz, Zabou Breitman,...

Re>Connext is the annual film and TV showcase run by Flanders Image.

The first footage from Netflix drama Soil, directed by Bad Boys For Life duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, is to be presented at Re>Connext, the annual film and TV showcase run by Flanders Image.

It is one of 26 upcoming television projects selected for the event, which serves as an export platform for film and TV drama made in Flanders and will run online from October 5-31. The physical showcase has been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Soil,...