The Scent of the Sea

Summer 1955. Kamal, an 11 year old boy of the Medina of Fez, is experiencing the last months before Morocco's independence. With Aïcha and the students of the Qaraouiyine, he discovers and takes part in the fight for freedom. These 3 months will change his life.

Mona, a young Parisienne, learns that her real father is Moroccan. The only traces of his existence are a name, Mahmoud Saber, a black-and-white photo and a love letter to her mother. She decides to set off for Morocco in search of this man, whose existence turns out to be enigmatic, on a journey that takes her from Casablanca to Essaouira and turns into a journey of discovery.

January 1966. In a Paris apartment, police discovers the corpse of Georges Figon, the man who broke the scandal of the Ben Barka affair and undermined Gaullist power.

Ali is a seven-year-old autistic boy who does not speak and behaves differently from other children. He has a deep fascination with trees and nature. His mother, Jamila, struggles with the judgment and misunderstanding surrounding her son's condition. When she loses her job, the family's situation becomes even more difficult. Her shy and lonely colleague Bachir makes a courageous and selfless gesture for Ali, potentially changing the course of the family's life.

A Moroccan wedding ceremony - the bride, deeply veiled, is entrusted to the groom. While the musicians play and the women emit traditional trilling sounds, the couple retreats to the unknown realms of their shared bedroom. There, a bizarre drama unfolds while the wedding party waits for the bloody linen cloth.

In the Medina of Casablanca, Thami, a young man from a conservative family with a lineage of honourable Koranic lawyers, incenses his father as he decides to enter the profession of butchery. Whilst handling the meats, he soon discovers another taboo passion: women and love. “Love in the Medina” is about a journey of initiation, a quest for freedom and Thami’s revolution of romance in ever-changing Morocco.