Le Sultan de la Médina
(Soltane el Medina)

Young Ramla is led to town by her parents to marry her cousin Bab to whom she is promised since childhood. The cousin is in prison. His mother Rabha who raies the house, décidés to shut off the young girl in her room until the wedding. In her solitary réclusion, Ramla befriends Fraj, the other son of old Rabha, an enlightened divinator who finds his way thanks to signs he draws on the walls. Fraj, who knows ail the doors and ivays ofthe Medina – traditional Arab city – will invite Ramla to go out with him several times, and so initiâtes her to the world of men. Ramla refuses to be imprisoned and hâtes the stale smells of the Oukala and its promiscuity. She décidés to escape. She is helped by Fraj the simpleton. But the latter cannot go outside of the Medina and beyond the signs drawn on the wall from one hideout to another, Ramla fails one night in the hands of her iance, Bab, the ruffian who has left prison. He abandons her to some men who attempt to rape her. In the Oukala, everybody agréés that the “jenuns” (spirits) havekidnapped Ramla. Some even saiv herflying in the sky…