Obscure Night – “Ain’t I a child?”

A group of undocumented Moroccan boys in Paris roams beneath the hopeful glow of the illuminated Eiffel Tower, on the lookout for that elusive chance for a better future somewhere in Europe. Shot in evocative black-and-white, the camera closely follows their daily lives, which mostly revolve around surviving on the streets—doing shady deals, picking pockets, robbing shops and targeting tourists.

Sitting on warm subway grates, the boys—all around 16 years old, some having already wandered through Europe for years—share stories of their dangerous journeys from Morocco via Spain, and their experiences with police, prisons, residence permits and asylum centers. They assess their prospects and exchange advice. Will it be Berlin, Barcelona or Milan?

This film is the third part of a trilogy by French director Sylvain George, whose work often focuses on the struggles of underage migrants. Starting from the Spanish enclave of Melilla in northern Morocco, he tracked the lives of these young undocumented men as they roamed borderlands and cities across Europe.