On the Edge

2012, Leïla Kilani, 106 minutes, dialectal Arabic with French and Chinese subtitles

On the Edge tells the story of four young women living and working in an increasingly globalized Morocco. Drawn to a new free trade zone and port, young job-seekers are split into two groups—textile workers and shrimp peelers, roles that determine their status and worldview. A noir-like world of crime and drama grows out of this schismatic social landscape, highlighting the conflicting auspices of the dream of globalization.

Leïla Kilani (b. 1970, Casablanca, Morocco) worked as a freelance journalist from 1997 to 1999, when she made the switch to filmmaking. Her documentary subjects include immigrants in the harbor town of Tangier and the repressive regime of the Morocco’s King Hassan II. On the Edge is her first feature film.