Women from the Medina

The heroines of the title are a group of housewives living in Casablanca who openly tell their stories to camera, whether in the hammam (the baths), at home or on the streets during the International Women's March of 2000. This intimate account of their lives exposes grinding poverty, endless work, including prostitution, and myriad other hardships associated with being a woman, particularly an Arab woman. But it's far from humourless: as one struggles to get through the washing that piled up during Ramadan, she speaks of her red-raw hands, 'When I get up, they get up,' before addressing them directly : 'Help me make money - then I'll buy you a washing machine!' Such lighter moments contrast sharply with the more disturbing topical tales about racist attacks on Arabs in Spain, difficulties facing immigrants looking for work in France and the continuing lack of equal rights for women under Islam.