TARFAYA

Morocco, 2002. 97 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Daoud Aoulad Syad.

Tarfaya is the name of an isolated port village where smugglers abound, people smugglers, who are not scrupulous about throwing unwanted passengers overboard. The police chief is weary and about to retire. Women stay at a hostel in transit. Into the town comes a young woman who has borrowed money to get her a passage to Spain.

But Tarfaya (like Casablanca in the past) is also a state of mind. It is a kind of dreaming of possibilities of making good in a land that promises a better way of life. It is also a dreaming that involves danger and risks.

The inhabitants can prey on the unwary. But, many of them are kind. The young woman experiences both: her bag and money are stolen by a seemingly genial helper (who later is attracted to her and wants to reform), her employer accuses her of stealing; but the police chief finds her a place to stay and an older woman and a young boy are kind to her.

Will she go or will she stay? Winner of the SIGNIS award at the 2006 Zanzibar film festival, Tarfaya suggests some ways of hope and acceptance and even of redemption in a world that is both good and bad – but not totally good nor wholly bad.