From our 2025 Schools at Festival program: Meet Souleymane, an undocumented Guinean immigrant in France striving to build a new life and apply for asylum. To earn money, Souleymane rents a verified Uber Eats account from another employee, a frequent option for new arrivals. Weaving through the streets of Paris, Souleymane’s history unfolds in waves, its details revealed between the crushing countdown of the delivery clock, unpredictable weather, and frustrated customers. Despite his circumstances, Souleymane’s innate kindness shines through as he finds moments of levity and connection with his sheltermates, street vendors, and fellow delivery drivers. Boris Lojkine’s moody and propulsive film plays like a thriller, steadily laying out the mountain of obstacles Souleymane confronts as h desperately strives to make the right choices. The film is a stunning digest of a life lived in the shadows with a revelatory central performance from first-time, non-professional actor Abou Sangare (winner of Un Certain Regard Best Actor at Cannes).
Souleymane’s Story (2025)
Infused with a documentary style, evolving sound design, and covering multiple complex elements of the immigration and asylum-seeking experience, this film screening may complement a curriculum in African Studies, Current/World Events, French, Immigration, Political Science, and Social Studies.