Sur la planche
(Sur la planche)

“I don’t steal, I pay myself back. I don’t rob, I take back. I don’t do any
trafficking, I trade. I don’t sell myself, I invite myself.” Badia (Soufia
Issami, a proper revelation) is ready to do anything to get away from
her job as a shrimp peeler in the port of Tangier. Her fast talking and
her suspicion of everyone bear witness to the violence of her condition
which the camera captures with a vividness that recalls the Dardenne
brothers’ films. Famous for her remarkable documentaries – Tanger,
le rêve des brûleurs and Nos lieux interdits – Leila Kilani now presents
her first fiction film set in an uncompromising present-day Tangier.
Her camera sticks to the main protagonist and her three friends as
stubbornly as Badia brushes her fish-covered hands with mint and
lemon. Raised in Tangier, the film-maker shows the city in a way which
has nothing to do with the common romantic and picturesque film
imagery. Badia’s comings and goings and trafficking make it possible
to understand how the free zone is a city within the city, ruled by a
strict hierarchy of the working places. This effervescent portrait of
young girls is not easily forgotten. CG