Tarfaya

Tarfaya is a remote coastal town on the southern border of Morocco with a derelict British fort. Living there is what is known as a torment of Tantalus. There are fifty miles of sand between here and the nearest town Layouna but, over the sea to the west, the lights of the Canary Island resort of Fuerteventura beckon. ‘So close you forget the sea, until you’re lying on the bottom,’ sigh the inhabitants of Tarfaya in the film by Daoud Aoulad Syad. Miriam (Touria Alaoui) is one of the many fortune-hunters who arrive only with a suitcase. She is looking for the people-smuggler Riki, but is robbed by Hassan, the first man she meets. The local police chief manages to get Miriam’s money back and slowly starts to develop an above-average degree of interest in her – as does Hassan, who turns out not to be so bad and even goes as far as to steal money from his gang leader to help her. Tarfaya is a rarefied microcosm at the end of the world with its own rules and laws. Aoulad Syad sketches an authentic, attractive and socially committed portrait of the desolate transit town, with a great cinematographic sense for the landscape. The ruins of Tarfaya are a symbol for the ‘lost continent’ of Africa that everyone is fleeing. The beautiful mix of modern and traditional Mediterranean music accompanies the passing of time. (GT)