Directors: Meriem Bennani, Orian Barki

Stars: Meriem Bennani, Yto Barrada, Dounia Barrada, Ariana Faye Allensworth, Salima Dhaibi

Set in the same universe as the directors’ COVID-era web series ‘2 Lizards’, Bennani and Barki’s anthropomorphized animation is a bold if not entirely successful study of identity, longing and the immigrant experience. Bennani also voices the titular lesbian character. Bouchra is a thirty-five-year-old Moroccan Canid (a fox-like creature) working in Brooklyn. Much of the film is based around her attempt to reconnect with her conservative mother in Casablanca via telephone. They had become estranged after Bouchra gave her mother a coming-out letter nine years previously. After a creative drought, Bouchra has finally started work on her new project, a semi-autobiographical film set in Morocco in which her character has an affair with another woman. While planning her project, Bouchra begins an affair with Lamia (Dhaibi), a Moroccan bear, while contemplating accepting a job offer from an ex-girlfriend, Nikki (Allensworth), a cow. The picture’s urban environment populated by various co-existing animals brings to mind a more adult version of ‘Zootopia’, replete with explicit canid on bear action. The dingy noirish NYC environs are moodily rendered, although the characters’ appearances, particularly Bouchra’s, are stiff and inexpressive. Still, this is a heartfelt attempt to portray the immigrant experience and how personal experience can shape the creative process.

David Willoughby

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