“It is a cleverly made film, with a beautifully shot dramatic climax that fits perfectly with moodiness and edginess of the oddly bleak but fascinating story.” —Screen Daily
In Tangier’s old town, two young Casablancan girls live their lives among the army of workers who inhabit the city. Peeling shrimps by day and working as sex workers by night, the girls make extra money by fencing meager goods stolen from their clients. Beyond Tangier lies the “Free Zone,” a symbol for global world-subcontracting. It is Europe on Moroccan land, on African land: close, tangible, yet accessible only to those with a work permit. They become friends with two other girls who work in the Free Zone and together explore every corner of this new space nonstop, from dusk to dawn. “This is the story of an imperiled ‘brotherhood,’ the story of a foursome. The story of four girls on the run, made of love, choices, shattered destinies. They are the protagonists of a film noir under the conflicting auspices of the dream of globalization” (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs). 2011, Morocco/France/Germany, in Arabic and French with English subtitles, 110 minutes.