‘Mother Street’ offers child-level portraits of homeless Moroccan youths: those who remain in Morocco, and those who have managed to leave the country clandestinely for France in search of an ideal. In Casablanca, we follow Ibrahim, Nourdine, Yassine, and Mohammed through the city streets. Forced out of their homes following a divorce or the death of a parent, they fled the violence or neglect of their families and replaced it with the harshness of the street. Since then, they have had to survive hunger, cold, predators, and constant social judgment. Their daily lives are shaped by begging, nights spent sleeping on layers of cardboard, and the inhalation of industrial thinner, which helps them endure the brutality of their conditions.

Yet their relationship to the street is complex. Like a mother, it has also raised, sheltered, fed, and protected them. Their days are still filled with laughter, play, and moments of joy: they remain children. Despite having few prospects, they share a dream: to cross the Mediterranean and reach Europe in hopes of a better life. In Paris, other Moroccan youths live this dream. Having arrived clandestinely, Souhail and Adnane now exist in an irregular situation. But the street offers no respite: Souhail is imprisoned and likely to be deported, while Adnane now hopes for a quieter future in Spain.