EXCLUSIVE: France’s Lucky Number has acquired Moroccan director Laïla Marrakchi’s Strawberries (La Mas Dulce) and will launch the Spain-set drama at the European Film Market next month.
Now in post-production, the film centres on a group of women who leave their native Morocco for a season of strawberry-picking in Andalusia with promises of fair pay and dreams of a better future for their families. Instead, they face harsh conditions and abuse. They form a tight bond and work with a lawyer to risk everything to seek justice. It is inspired by real-life reports of exploitation faced by Moroccan women working in parts of the agricultural industry in southern Spain.
Nisrin Erradi, known for Nabil Ayouch’s Everybody Loves Touda, stars alongside Hind Braik, Fatima Attif, Larbi Mohammed and Spain’s Itsaso Arana.
Strawberries most recently won the 2025 Marrakech IFF Atlas Workshops’ top Work In Progress post-production prize.
The film is produced by Morocco’s Mont Fleuri Production and Juliette Schrameck’s French outfit Lumen, with Spain’s Fasten Films and Belgium’s Mirage Films.
Lucky Number’s founding trio Olivier Barbier, Ola Byszuk and Lenny Porte, said what drew them to the film was: “Laïla Marrakchi’s ability to confront the most scandalous and unacceptable practices of an agricultural sector that we, as a society, tacitly endorse by consuming the fruits of these women’s labour. At the same time, she finds a unique tone that preserves the joy, vitality, and sorority that sustains these women.”
The company made its first foray into the international market in Berlin last year and has since become a force on the global sales scene with a slew of festival selections and prizes. It heads to this year’s festival with two world premieres in official selection, including festival opener Shahrbanoo Sadat’s No Good Men and Emin Alper’s Salvation in competition.
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