The Mother of All Lies review – pursuing the truth of Morocco’s brutal dictatorship years

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Asmae El Moudir employs a delicate mix of handmade replicas and oral testimony to brilliantly evoke personal and collective trauma Between those who refuse to remember and those who struggle to forget, a tumultuous clash of minds occupies the centre of Asmae El Moudir’s inventive documentary, a prize-winner at last year’s Cannes film festival. Through a constellation of clay figurines and dollhouse-style miniature sets, most of which were constructed by El Moudir’s father, the director recreates her oppressive childhood in the Sebata district of Casablanca. Under the watchful eyes of her domineering grandmother Zahra, all personal photos are banished from the house, save for a picture of King Hassan II. The delicate mix of handmade replicas and oral testimony brilliantly evokes the personal and collective trauma that stem from Morocco’s “Years of Lead” – a period of state brutality under Hassan II’s dictatorial rule. Lingering on the nimble fingers of El Moudir’s father as he puts t
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Wish You Were Here director David Leland dies aged 82

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The British film-maker also wrote the landmark TV play Made in Britain, starring Tim Roth, and won an Emmy award for Band of Brothers

David Leland, the director behind popular 1980s hit Wish You Were Here and writer on a string of acclaimed British films including Made in Britain, Mona Lisa and Personal Services, has died aged 82. His agency Casarotto Ramsay and Associates said in a statement that Leland died on Sunday surrounded by his family. They added: “He is survived by his wife, Sabrina, his four daughters, his son and his six grandchildren … all of whom he loved almost as much as Arsenal football club.”

Born in 1941, Leland initially trained as an actor at the Central School of Speech of Drama, before becoming part of the breakaway that led to the creation of the Drama Centre in 1963. He secured small roles in 1970s films such as John Mackenzie’s directorial debut One Brief Summer, Gawain and the Green Knight starring Murray Head and Jacques Demy’s The Pied Piper. However, he found writing and directing more to his taste, directing the world premiere of Michael Palin and Terry Jones’s pair of short plays, Their Finest Hours, at the Crucible theatre, Sheffield, in 1976, and commissioning Victoria Wood to write her 1978 play Talent for the same venue. In 1977 Leland cast Pierce Brosnan, who had also studied at the Drama Centre, in the UK premiere of Tennessee Williams’ play The Red Devil Battery Sign at the Roundhouse in London.

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