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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL | Last update 12.Oct.25

Souleymane’s Story L’Histoire de Souleymane
Review by Rich Cline | 4/5

Souleymane's Story
dir Boris Lojkine
prd Bruno Nahon
scr Boris Lojkine, Delphine Agut
with Abou Sangare, Alpha Oumar Sow, Nina Meurisse, Emmanuel Yovanie, Younoussa Diallo, Keita Dalo, Ghislain Mahan, Mamadou Barry, Yaya Diallo, Karim Bouziane, Amadou Djoulde Bah, Sory Binta Barry
release Fr 9.Oct.24,
US 8.Aug.25, UK 17.Oct.25
24/France 1h33

CANNES FILM FEST
TORONTO FILM FEST

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Packed with anecdotes that are clearly based on true stories, this drama explores the immigrant experience from a West African perspective. Filmmaker Boris Lojkine takes a documentary-style approach, echoing Ken Loach's earthy realism as a young man in Paris faces increasing obstacles as he strains to make his life less precarious. This involving and often harrowing film isn't always easy to watch, but it's provocative and vitally important.

Working as bicycle deliveryman, Guinean asylum-seeker Souleymane (Sangare) is tryign to get legal residency in France. And he needs to explain his political past in an interview in two days. He's advised to tell the truth consistently, so officials know he isn't lying. But he's rehearsing details to make his case more convincing. In all of this, he's at the mercy of his boss, customers, a fixer (Sow) and friends who want to help. But he's not very patient, and he's always running late. And he needs to keep his cool with the interviewer (Meurisse).

The camera follows Souleymane closely as he cycles through streets, interacting with a wide variety of people from all over the world. This includes good-natured teasing from fellow African immigrants, and the lively scene in the refugee shelter. It seems like Souleymane spends every moment of every day in survival mode, trying to contact people who are don't want to pay him what he has earned or give him any kind of break.

In the centre of almost every frame, Sangare holds the attention with strong charisma and a warmly engaging personality, allowing us to feel Souleymane's yearning for something to go his way. His detailed performance makes this portrait unusually vivid, from the perils of riding a bicycle in Parisian traffic to needing to wake up in the night to book his bed for tomorrow. Even the slightest baseless complaint can jeopardise his job. And he worries about his mother back home, trying to make sure someone is taking care of her.

Whether the story Souleymane tells is fact or fiction is beside the point, because what he has been through is profoundly inhumane. His odyssey over these two days is fairly nonstop, going from one intense situation to another. And he knows he is powerless to do any of it on his own.. This is vital filmmaking that bristles with honesty. It's also a remarkably astute depiction of a young man doing everything to find a path to a promising future against all odds.

themes, language, violence 9.Oct.25

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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL