Félicité

DIRECTOR: Alain Gomis COUNTRY: France, Senegal, Belgium, Germany, Lebanon YEAR: 2017 LANGUAGE(S): Lingala SUBTITLES: German RUNNING TIME: 123 min

SECTION: International Forum 2017

SCREENINGS

Sunday, 01.10., 5.00 p.m., kinoeins
Monday, 02.10., 8.15 p.m., Festsaal, Q&A with Alain Gomis

SYNOPSIS

Félicité is a proud, free-willed woman working as a singer in a bar in Kinshasa. Her life is thrown into turmoil when her 14-year old son falls victim to an accident. To save him, she sets out on a breakneck race through the streets of electric Kinshasa – a world of music and dreams where she’ll cross paths with Tabu…
In his latest feature Senegalese director Alain Gomis is “weaving a sensual, sometimes hopeful, sometimes disturbing urban tapestry with threads of image, sound, poetry, and song […] In the title role, Congolese singer-turned-actress Véro Tshanda Beya proves entirely mesmerizing from the moment the camera alights on her strong-featured, deep-gazing face, sometimes shading entire histories of dismissal, disappointment, and ongoing resistance into a single expression. The film’s jangling, diverse musical soundtrack practically functions as a screenplay in itself, charting Félicité’s shifting states of mind as it leaps from the Kasai Allstars’ breathless modern fusion of indigenous and international rock to the sober grace of the Kinshasa Symphonic Orchestra’s spin on Arvo Pärt.” (Guy Lodge, Variety) FÉLICITÉ won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 2017 Berlin Film Festival.

ALAIN GOMIS

Alain Gomis is a Franco-Bissau Guinean-Senegalese director. He was born in 1972 in France where he also grew up. His first two short films, Tourbillons and Petite lumière were won awards at several international festivals. In 2001, his first feature-length film L’Afrance won the Silver Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival. Tey was selected for competition at the Berlinale and won the Golden Stallion at Fespaco Film Festival in 2013. Alain Gomis also works on a training program for young filmmakers and technicians in Senegal (Up Court-métrages). Félicité is his 4th feature-length film.

FILMOGRAPHY
Tourbillons (1999), L’Afrance (2001), Petite Lumière (2003), Andalucia (2007), Tey (2012), Félicité (2016)

SCRIPT: Alain Gomis PRODUCERS: Arnaud Dommerc, Alain Gomis, Omar Sall CAMERA: Céline Bozon EDITOR: Fabrice Rouaud MUSIC: The Kasaï Allstars WITH: Véro Tshanda Beya (Félicité), Papi Mpaka (Tabu), Gaetan Claudia (Samo), The Kasaï Allstars

PRODUCTION: Granit Films, Andolfi, Cinekap WORLD SALES: Samuel Blanc, Jour2fete GERMAN DISTRIBUTOR: Grandfilm

WEBSITE
http://felicite-lefilm.com/