At the edge of the desert, RIMA catches sight of a man who, at the end of his prayer, observes her with his blue eyes. It's then that she plunges back into the story of her grandfather, who disappeared during the construction of the Trans-Saharan railway line in 1940.
Rima sets out on a quest in Bouarfa, southern Morocco, in search of traces of her paternal grandfather, who has been missing since Rima's father's early childhood. On an almost initiatory journey, accompanied by her guide and driver Nourredine, Rima discovers a region nostalgic for its past, marked by mining and the railroad known as the Mer Niger or Transsaharien. The region's colonial past comes to the fore in the imagination of this Franco-Moroccan woman in search of her own history.
French-Moroccan producer and director. Born in Algeria, in Aïn Kihal (near Aïn Temouchent) in a Moroccan family. She grew up in the Bordeaux region from the age of 6. With a degree in language sciences, literature and cinema, Rahma El Madani signs her films under the name of Rahma Benhamou El Madani. She created a production company Plein Cadres in 1996. She has written, directed, produced and often filmed several documentary and fiction films herself.
