Sur la planche
On the Edge
Leïla Kilani
»Soufia Issami is the jittery and complex core of the film, never sleeping but rushing between work and her night-time encounters and obsessively scrubbing herself, in a bid to wash off both her work at the shrimp factory and her sexual encounters. The camera often tracks her in extreme closeup, her unsmiling face and tense demeanour offers fascinating clues to her steely determination and sense of self-containment.«
– Marc Adams, Screen Daily
Badia and Imane have come from Casablanca to the Moroccan port city of Tangier in hope of a better life. But the young women end up in a shrimp factory as underpaid industrial labourers. They stock up their wages at night by setting up scams on »clients« and stealing their money. Outside Tangier lies the free-trade zone, a piece of Europe on Moroccan soil, accessible only to those who have a work permit for it. Asma and Nawal have jobs in this free-trade zone. They work there in a textile factory – under similar conditions to Badia and Imane, however.
One day, the four young women meet, and form a gang of four. From now on they go eagerly to work by day and by night they roam together through the city. On their trips through the streets they steal whatever they can, restlessly searching for happiness as they do so.
Awards for ›Sur la planche‹
Preis der Jury, Paris Cinéma 2011 | Besondere Erwähnung, Paris Cinéma 2011 | Beste Schauspielerin, Bester Film und Beste Regisseurin, Taormina Film Festival 2011 | Bester Film, Antalya Golden Orange Festival 2011
Leïla Kilani
Leïla Kilani was born in 1970 in Casablanca and works today in Paris and Tangier. In 2000, she began making documentaries. On the Edge, her first feature film, was screened in 2011 both in Cannes in the Quinzaine des réalisateurs programme and at the San Sebastián Festival.
Films by Leïla Kilani
Nos lieux interdits 2009 | Tanger, le rêve du brûleurs 2003 | Tangiers 2003