On Wednesday April 15 at 3:00 pm in the Grande Salle of the Alliance, 1011 2nd Street in Santa Rosa, the AFSR Cineclub will be screening the 2024 film, Soulemane’s Story (L’histoire de Souleymane), directed by Boris Lojkine. The film potrays the life of an immigrant from Guinea doing gig bicycle delivery work in Paris while seeking official asylum from the French government. Souleymane is played by the non-professional Abou Sangare, who won the Best Actor in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival for his performance. In the New Yorker magazine, critic Justin Chang said:
One of the first things you notice about Sangare’s performance is its pedal-pumping physicality: the actor, panting as he threads his way through Paris traffic, conveys extreme anxiety and a will to work intensely hard. Slowly, though, a more vivid sense of who Souleymane is takes root. We glean his quiet charisma, his effortless good humor, and his principled refusal to return insults or abuses in kind. We see how fundamentally honest he is, and thus how temperamentally ill-suited he is to regurgitating the falsehoods that… are crucial to his survival. As an actor, in short, Sangare—whose performance won a European Film Award, a César, and a clutch of festival prizes—is an extraordinarily expressive find.
The screening is free and popcorn and refreshments will be served.
Directly after the screening, at about 4:40 pm, Peter Zingg will lead a bilingual discussion on the film. For this session, you can also attend the discussion via Zoom.
Please RSVP if you wish to attend or receive the Zoom link for the discussion. If you cannot attend the screening in person, you can watch the film on the free streaming service Kanopy. A reminder: parking is not allowed in the Spa Art lot behind the Alliance; please park on the street.
Film Details
Original title / Titre originale: L’Histoire de Souleymane (2024)
Running time / Durée: 1h34m
Genres: Drama
Directed by / Réalisé par: Boris Lojkine
Casting: Abou Sangare, Nina Meurisse, Alpha Oumar Sow, Emmanuel Yovanie, Younoussa Diallo
Stream it online / Regarder sur: Kanopy, Amazon Video, Apple TV, Fandango At Home
Tandis qu’il pédale dans les rues de Paris pour livrer des repas, Souleymane répète son histoire. Dans deux jours, il doit passer son entretien de demande d’asile, le sésame pour obtenir des papiers. Mais Souleymane n’est pas prêt.
As he pedals through the streets of Paris to deliver meals, Souleymane recounts his story. In two days, he has to go through his asylum application interview, the key to obtaining papers, but Souleymane is not ready.