Sofia

The laws for sex outside marriage are strict and punished with prison in Morocco, and this serves as the the political context for director Meryem Benm'Barek-Aloïsi’s feature film debut. Born in Morocco and raised in Belgium, Benm'Barek-Aloïsi aims her focus on a conservative, outdated and sexist society. This kind of society becomes a problem for 20 years old Sofia (Maha Alemi), who has denied her pregnancy until the labor has started.

Sofia leaves the family dinner together with her cousin Lena (Sarah Perles) to give birth, but all the hospitals refuses to let her in because she can’t identify the father of her child. Fortunately, they meet one merciful doctor who helps them. After giving birth, the situation worsens as Sofia is in desperate need of the father acknowledging her child to avoid going to prison. As if that wasn’t enough, she has to deal with the fact that she has brought shame over her family who is trying to position themselves as upper middle class in Casablanca. Sofia is just as much a film about class as it is about gender, subtly told through costumes, language and misé-en-scene. It is also a film as much about the society as it is about its characters, which becomes its main strength.

This year’s opening film at Arab Film Days is a hard-hitting drama lifted by impressive acting performances, that dares to comment taboos in the Moroccan society as we’ve seen other films from the country do the last couple of years.

Meryem Benm'Barek-Aloïsi is a Moroccan director and screenwriter. Before making her feature debut, Sofia, she directed five shorts, among them Jenna (2014) which won several awards. Sofia premiered at the film festival in Cannes, where Benm'Barek-Aloïsi won the award for best screenplay in the prestigious Un Certain Regard-section.

Year 2018

Director Meryem Benm'Barek-Aloïsi

Screenplay Meryem Benm'Barek-Aloïsi

Cinematography Son Doan

Cast Maha Alemi, Lubna Azabal, Sarah Perles

Runtime 1h 20m