CFD 25|Souleymane's Story

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A Close-up of Contemporary World Cinema
Souleymane’s Story
93', 2024, France

As he pedals through the streets of Paris to deliver meals, Souleymane repeats his story. In two days, he has to go through his asylum application interview, the key to obtaining papers. But Souleymane is not ready.

Boris Lojkine, a graduate of the École Normale Supérieure specialising in Philosophy with a thesis on “Crisis and History”, decided to leave the university after completing his thesis. He closed his books and left for Vietnam, where he had previously lived and learnt the language. There, he made two documentary films, Ceux qui restent (2001) and Les âmes errantes (2005), both of which tell the Vietnamese side of the impossible mourning of men and women whose lives have been torn apart by war. With Hope (2014), his first feature film, he switched continents to immerse himself in the Africa of migrants. The film was presented at the Critics’ Week in Cannes and received dozens of awards in international festivals (including 2 Valois Awards at the Angoulême Film Festival). In 2019, Camille won the Audience Award on the Piazza Grande at the Locarno Festival, as well as the Valois and Lumière Awards for Best Actress for Nina Meurisse. Presented at the Cannes Festival 2024 in the Un Certain Regard section, Souleymane’s Story is his third film.

Directed by Boris Lojkine
Screenplay Boris Lojkine, Delphine Agut
Cinematography Tristan Galand
Editing Xavier Sirven
Set design Geraldine Stivet
Sound design Marc-Olivier Brullé, Pierre Bariaud, Charlotte Butrak, Samuel Aïchoun
Cast Abou Sangare, Nina Meurisse, Alpha Oumar Sow, Emmanuel Yovanie, Younoussa Diallo, Ghislain Mahan, Mamadou Barry, Yaya Diallo, Keita Diallo
Producers Bruno Nahon
Production company Unité
Co-production companies Canal+, Ciné+, Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image Animée, Fonds Image de la Diversité, Agence Nationale de la Cohésion des Territoires, Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image Animée
World sales Pyramide International

Filmography
2024 Souleymane’s Story
2019 Camille
2014 Hope

Selected Awards
Best Performance Award & Jury Prize, Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival, France, 2024.
European Film Award for Best Actor, EFA, 2024.
Best Supporting Actress Award, Cesar Awards, France, 2025.
Bridging the Borders Award, Palm Springs IFF, USA, 2025.