Autlook Filmsales has boarded “Don’t Let the Sun Go Up on Me,” a hybrid documentary from trailblazing Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir, whose “The Mother of All Lies” won Cannes’ best documentary award, as well as the Un Certain Regard directing prize. Currently in production, the project will screen as a work-in-progress at the Marrakech Film Festival’s Atlas Workshops next week.
Blending extensive family archives with striking and surreal location work, the film retraces the life of Fatimazahra, a young woman born with a rare genetic disorder that made exposure to sunlight deadly. She lived a parallel, nocturnal existence and founded a community known as the Children of the Moon. Following her death in 2023, the group traveled to Norway’s Lofoten Islands to live beneath the polar night, seeking a world where darkness offers safety.
“We’re talking about a rare disease with a very strong antagonist: the sun,” says El Moudir. “What normally represents joy becomes a source of danger. For this community, light can kill. In that sense, the project is like a vampire film made real. We’re exploring how this hidden community lives among us — a community most people don’t even know exists — but I don’t want to portray them as victims.”
“I’m always looking to find fantasy in reality,” she continues. “What is real for some is science fiction for others. I explore romantic relationships between people who live in a world that, for you and me, looks like science fiction. They go out wearing astronaut helmets, day or night, yet for them, this is normal life. How do they see each other? How do they form love and connection within this community after the death of their leader, Fatimazahra?”
El Moudir also produces alongside Emma Lepers of Haut et Court Doc, Monica Hellström of Ström Pictures and the Lofoten Film Collective. Delivery is slated for 2027.
“After our first collaboration on ‘The Mother of All Lies,’ continuing our partnership with Asmae felt completely natural,” says Autlook Filmsales CEO Stephanie Fuchs. “From our earliest conversations, it was clear she was embarking on another bold and visually striking project, bringing young adults to the forefront who have been hidden away from society for most of their lives. With producer Emma Lepers and co-producer Monica Hellström on board, it’s truly a dream setup, and we can’t wait to see Asmae’s unique vision unfold — one we’re certain buyers and festivals will be just as eager to discover.”
El Moudir ushered “The Mother of All Lies” through the Atlas Workshops, first participating as a development project in 2019 before winning the top post-production prize in 2021. As well as its Cannes haul, the hybrid documentary won best film at the Sydney Film Festival and more than 30 international prizes, before making history as the first Moroccan film to win Marrakech’s prestigious Étoile d’Or. The film was also shortlisted in the international features section of the Oscars in 2024.
“Asmae began that film without a producer,” says Marrakech artistic director Rémi Bonhomme. “She has become an emblematic figure in Morocco because she truly paved the way for a new generation of filmmakers, showing them what is possible. We created the Atlas program to support very young filmmakers who are not yet at the stage where they can present their projects on the international market, but who need guidance at the earliest steps of development and a better understanding of how the industry functions. ‘The Mother of All Lies’ became a turning point, opening doors for filmmakers and producers who previously felt excluded from the possibility of creating films capable of such global reach.”