A hit at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024, taking away both the Jury Prize and the Best Actor in the Un Certain Regard competition, Souleymane’s Story lets audiences experience 48 hours in the life of just one of the hundreds of food delivery cyclists who speed past us each day.
In two days’ time, Guinean immigrant Souleymane (Abou Sangare) has an appointment with the authorities in Paris to plead his case for his asylum application. But instead of being able to take his time to prepare, he is racing through the streets of Paris making food deliveries on his bicycle. Of course, as an asylum seeker he isn’t supposed to be working, but he needs to make money to send home to his mother, and to pay the man who has been coaching him in preparation for the application interview. Encounters with unfriendly restaurant staff, disgruntled customers and disingenuous police officers are only part of his stress. Souleymane also needs to make sure that he books in each day at the homeless shelter to secure a bed for the next night. Not the best preparation for an interview which will potentially change his life.
The first two-thirds of director Boris Lojkine’s feature Souleymane’s Story are urgent and fast-moving, as the camera follows Souleymane around as he makes his deliveries and catches up with his contacts. Souleymane has no time to stop and chat with friends – his next delivery is waiting for him somewhere in the Paris night. It’s incessant, and Lojkine managed to capture this by filming his actor by following him around on a bike, with his camera operator on a second bike at his side. They are genuinely battling through Parisian traffic to get the shot. It’s frenetic.
And then the film’s last section is a totally different world – a conversation between just Souleymane and the civil servant listening to his story (Nina Meurisse) in a bland interview room, when we finally get to know Souleymane a little bit more.
The film is predominantly lit in blue, which seems to work well with the feeling of oppression and anxiety throughout, with one ray of yellow light shining on an ambiguous ending. Lojkine is giving nothing away – he lets the viewer make up their mind as to what happens now. He also gently points out (to anyone paying attention) that we’ve probably encountered many people like Souleymane without even realising it. Perhaps the next time we order takeaway, we might think differently about the person bringing it to us.
Many reviewers of Souleymane’s Story have, quite rightly, commented on the performance of Abou Sangare in the lead role. A non-professional actor and himself an immigrant, Sangare is outstanding as Souleyman. He is rarely off-screen, usually the central focus of the camera, and delivers a performance full of nuance, emotion and vulnerability. Souleymane’s Story, with its social realism, has the potential to be a difficult film to watch because of the subject matter – Sangare is ultimately what makes it vital and engaging.
Souleymane’s Story opens on 1st August 2025 at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center in New York City, and on 8th August at Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles.
A hit at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024, taking away both the Jury Prize and the Best Actor in the Un Certain Regard competition, Souleymane’s Story lets audiences experience 48 hours in the life of just one of the hundreds of food delivery cyclists who speed past us each day.
In two days’ time, Guinean immigrant Souleymane (Abou Sangare) has an appointment with the authorities in Paris to plead his case for his asylum application. But instead of being able to take his time to prepare, he is racing through the streets of Paris making food deliveries on his bicycle. Of course, as an asylum seeker he isn’t supposed to be working, but he needs to make money to send home to his mother, and to pay the man who has been coaching him in preparation for the application interview. Encounters with unfriendly restaurant staff, disgruntled customers and disingenuous police officers are only part of his stress. Souleymane also needs to make sure that he books in each day at the homeless shelter to secure a bed for the next night. Not the best preparation for an interview which will potentially change his life.
The first two-thirds of director Boris Lojkine’s feature Souleymane’s Story are urgent and fast-moving, as the camera follows Souleymane around as he makes his deliveries and catches up with his contacts. Souleymane has no time to stop and chat with friends – his next delivery is waiting for him somewhere in the Paris night. It’s incessant, and Lojkine managed to capture this by filming his actor by following him around on a bike, with his camera operator on a second bike at his side. They are genuinely battling through Parisian traffic to get the shot. It’s frenetic.
And then the film’s last section is a totally different world – a conversation between just Souleymane and the civil servant listening to his story (Nina Meurisse) in a bland interview room, when we finally get to know Souleymane a little bit more.
The film is predominantly lit in blue, which seems to work well with the feeling of oppression and anxiety throughout, with one ray of yellow light shining on an ambiguous ending. Lojkine is giving nothing away – he lets the viewer make up their mind as to what happens now. He also gently points out (to anyone paying attention) that we’ve probably encountered many people like Souleymane without even realising it. Perhaps the next time we order takeaway, we might think differently about the person bringing it to us.
Many reviewers of Souleymane’s Story have, quite rightly, commented on the performance of Abou Sangare in the lead role. A non-professional actor and himself an immigrant, Sangare is outstanding as Souleyman. He is rarely off-screen, usually the central focus of the camera, and delivers a performance full of nuance, emotion and vulnerability. Souleymane’s Story, with its social realism, has the potential to be a difficult film to watch because of the subject matter – Sangare is ultimately what makes it vital and engaging.
Souleymane’s Story opens on 1st August 2025 at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center in New York City, and on 8th August at Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles.
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