Ticket deal: 5 films for €45 / 10 films for €80 available from the Box Office or on 01 679 3477.

20-year-old Sofia (Maha Alemi) is from a traditional middle-class Moroccan family living in Casablanca. When she finds herself pregnant she seeks the advice of her more open-minded medical student cousin Lena (Sarah Perles); as giving birth out of wedlock is a crime in Morocco, punishable by up to a year in prison. Pitching Sofia and Lena together reveals class differences and aspirations of contemporary Moroccan society, highlighting gender inequality, broader social injustice and the hypocrisy of the law.

Director’s Note: Writer-director Meryem Benm’Barek-Aloïsi’s striking debut travels at a rapid pace with scenes framed like windows opening onto Moroccan society.

Notes by Marie-Pierre Richard

Winner: Best Screenplay, Un Certain Regard section, Cannes Film festival 2018

Screening as part of the IFI French Film Festival – November 14th to 25th.