Sur la planche (Ala Al Hafa)

Born in Casablanca in 1970, Leïla Kilani has always dreamed of being a clown. Today she lives between Paris and Tangiers, and in 2000 turned to making documentaries with some highly acclaimed films (Tanger le rêve des Brûleurs (Tangiers, the Burners' Dream), Nos lieux interdits (Our Forbidden Places)) before making Sur la planche (On the Edge), her first fiction feature."I wrote the film after reading an article. In 2005, I was looking at the Moroccan gutter press. They talked about a new trend: the feminisation of crime. A gang of four girls, possibly factory workers, it wasn't clear, scouted for men in cafés and then robbed them. There was a murder. Using this I wrote a project, and suggested to Hafed Benotman, a detective fiction writer... who has also robbed a bank or two, to write it with me. There was no choice about making a film noir, it was obvious".