Souleymane’s Story (2025)
Director: Boris Lojkine Run Time: 92 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2025 Language: French
Starring: Abou Sangare, Alpha Oumar Sow, Emmanuel Yovanie, Nina Meurisse, Younoussa Diallo
Country: France
Language: French, Fulah, Malinka
About the film:
Racing through the streets of Paris making food deliveries on his bicycle, Guinean immigrant Souleymane (Sangare) is struggling to stay afloat. In two days, he has to report for an asylum application interview, where he must plead his case to an immigration officer (Nina Meurisse) who will determine his future in France. As he rides, he repeats his story. But Souleymane is not ready. Drawing inspiration from Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and evoking the humanist films of the Dardennes, Boris Lojkine’s urgent, propulsive third feature never leaves Souleymane’s side in a deeply affecting account of the daily trials and uncertain futures faced by migrants in France and around the world.
About the filmmaker:
Boris Lojkine is a French director and screenwriter whose work combines philosophical insight with deeply human stories across migration and identity. He studied at École Normale Supérieure and taught philosophy before turning to filmmaking. Lojkine first made documentaries like Ceux qui restent (2001) and Les Âmes errantes (2005) about war and loss in Vietnam. His first fiction feature, Hope (2014), examined migration in Africa, followed by Camille (2019), which won the Audience Award at Locarno. In 2024, his film Souleymane’s Story (L’Histoire de Souleymane) premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, further cementing his reputation for attentive, socially engaged cinema.
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