“I Was Much More Influenced by Andrea Arnold’s Work or That of the Safdie Brothers”: Boris Lojkine on His Cannes Jury Prize-Winning The Story of Souleymane

The Story of Souleymane follows an undocumented delivery worker as he prepares for an asylum application interview while pedaling through the Paris streets. But belying the innocuous title and unassuming premise, this latest narrative feature from veteran filmmaker Boris Lojkine is actually a fast-paced thriller. And also a logistical feat as Lojkine’s lens races to keep up with his less than honest protagonist (played by dazzling newcomer Abou Sangare, an immigrant from Guinea who, unlike his titular character, is a mechanic by trade) as he literally cycles through a Kafkaesque EU system in which even the most mundane move might unleash a disastrous domino effect. Shortly after the film’s Un Certain Regard premiere, where it nabbed both the Jury Prize and a performance award for the aforementioned dazzling newcomer, Filmmaker reached out to the French director, whose other award-winning projects have taken him from Vietnam to Africa. And now for the first time, back home.

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.