Rabat – Following the remarkable success of her documentary “The Mother of All Lies,” Moroccan Director, writer and producer Asmae El Moudir is now developing a new documentary titled “Don’t Let the Sun Go Up on Me.”
Created in collaboration with Autlook Filmsales, the film is a hybrid documentary, merging personal family archives with visually striking and surreal location footage to explore the rare genetic disorder known as xeroderma pigmentosum – often referred to as “children of the moon.”
The documentary, which will be previewed at the Atlas workshops of Marrakech International Film Festival as a work-in-progress, running from November 28 to December 6 – centers on the story of Fatimazahra, a young Moroccan woman living with this rare condition.
She cannot be exposed to sunlight, which forces her to live a mostly nocturnal life. However she formed a small community of people with the same condition, known as the “Children of the Moon.” After her passing in 2023, members of this community relocated to Norway’s Lofoten Islands, seeking safety under the long polar nights.
“We’re talking about a rare disease with a very strong antagonist: the sun,” says El Moudir to the American magazine Variety. “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.”
This film uncovers a rare condition, bringing attention to lives usually lived in the shadows. The sun, which is normally a source of life and Vitamin D, becomes dangerous and even deadly, forcing “the children of the moon” to navigate the world mostly at night and find safety in darkness. Throughout this story, the documentary encourages awareness of people whose realities remain largely invisible.
Over the course of her career, El Moudir has earned several notable awards, especially for her 2023 documentary “The Mother of All Lies.” She won both the Golden Eye for Best Documentary and the Un Certain Regard Best Director award for this work.
