15.10. – 22.10.2025

Souleymane’s Story

L’histoire de Souleymane

International Forum 2025, Open Eyes 2025

COUNTRY: France YEAR: 2024 RUNNING TIME: 93 min

DIRECTED BY: Boris Lojkine

LANGUAGE(S): French, Fulani, Maninka

SUBTITLE(S): German

CAST: Abou Sangare (Souleymane), Nina Meurisse (Agente de l’Ofpra), Alpha Oumar Sow (Barry), Emmanuel Yovanie (Emmanuel), Younoussa Diallo (Khalil), Ghislain Ghislain Mahan (Ghislain), Mamadou Barry (Mamadou), Yaya Diallo (Yaya), Keita Diallo (Kadiatou)

PRODUCER: Bruno Nahon

WRITTEN BY: Boris Lojkine, Delphine Agut

EDITED BY: Xavier Sirven

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Tristan Galand

Synopsis

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.

Director

Boris Lojkine

Biography

Boris Lojkine is a French director and screenwriter. He studied philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure, earning an agrégation and completing a thesis on “Crisis and History.” After leaving academia, he lived in Vietnam, where he made the documentaries CEUX QUI RESENT and LES ÂMES ERRANTES. His debut feature HOPE, exploring migration in Africa, premiered at Cannes’ Critics’ Week and won numerous international awards. His second feature, CAMILLE, received the Audience Award in Locarno. SOULEYMANE’S STORY, presented in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, is his third feature film.

Filmography

Ceux qui restent (2001), Les âmes errantes (2005), Hope (2014), Camille (2019), Souleymanes Geschichte (2024)

Links /Contacts

PRODUCTION: Unité

WORLD SALES: Sébastien Fouque, Pyramide International

GERMAN DISTRIBUTOR: Jürgen Lütz, Film Kino Text

Links /Contacts

PRODUCTION: Unité

WORLD SALES: Sébastien Fouque, Pyramide International

GERMAN DISTRIBUTOR: Jürgen Lütz, Film Kino Text