Dunya & Desie

Dunya and Desie (Dutch: Dunya en Desie in Marokko – "Dunya and Desie in Morocco") is a 2008 Dutch film about the friendship between two Dutch teenage girls, directed by Dana Nechushtan and based on the television series Dunya en Desie ("Dunya and Desie"), which aired over three seasons, from 2002 to 2004. The film was chosen as the Netherlands' official submission to the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, but it was not nominated.[1] It won a Golden Film, an award recognizing box office achievements in the Netherlands.[2]

Dunya El-Benini and Desie Koppenol are teenagers and best friends, each nearly 18 years old. Dunya is of Moroccan ancestry but was born in the Netherlands. She narrates the film and begins by noting how Desie juggles multiple boyfriends.

Desie works as a hairdresser and is also involved with her boss, Mike. However, in a moment of anger at him, she quits her job. When Desie misses her period, she gets a home pregnancy test, and it comes up positive. She learns from her mother, Monique, that she was the result of an unplanned pregnancy when her mother was young. Her father abandoned them both soon after Desie was born and moved to Morocco. Desie contemplates having an abortion and gets a referral, but at the last moment decides not to go ahead with it.

On her 18th birthday, Dunya hears that she is to be married by arrangement to a cousin in Morocco. She and her family move to a newly built house there, which they find to be unfinished upon arrival. Dunya meets the cousin to whom she is to be married and is not attracted to him at all. However, she notices a young man, Samir, who is part of the house-building crew, and is drawn to him instead.

Desie digs up a secret "treasure chest" of personal items of interest to both her and Dunya. In it is the Moroccan address of her father, Hans Schakel. Desie decides to go to Morocco to track him down. She surprises Dunya and her family when she arrives unannounced at their house. During her brief stay there, she scandalises the family by her behaviour and dress. Tensions develop between her and Dunya, and ultimately, Dunya decides to accompany Desie on her search for her father, as she feels that Desie will not survive alone in Morocco.

The two girls travel to Casablanca and into rural Morocco. They suffer the loss of Desie's luggage to two con men and spend an evening in a Casablanca hospital after Desie shows signs of bleeding from the pregnancy. They learn that Desie's father did work in the city at the docks but left that job years earlier and opened a gas station and restaurant away from urban areas. They continue to have fights and almost split up but eventually reconcile and continue in their search. In the meantime, Desie's mother and her boyfriend Jeff are concerned over her disappearance, and they travel to Morocco to find her.