The Story of Souleymane

The Story of Souleymane (L'histoire de Souleymane) is a 2024 French film written and directed by Boris Lojkine in his feature-length debut. The film stars Abou Sangare as Souleymane, an immigrant from Guinea working for a food delivery service in Paris.

Premise
The Story of Souleymane follows Souleymane, (Sangare), a recent Guinean immigrant, through the streets of Paris as he prepares for his asylum application interview while working for a meal delivery service on his bicycle.

Cast

 * Abou Sangare as Souleymane
 * Nina Meurisse as the OFPRA agent
 * Alpha Oumar Sow as Barry
 * Emmanuel Yovanie as Emmanuel
 * Younoussa Diallo as Khalil
 * Ghislain Mahan as Ghislain
 * Mamadou Barry as Mamadou
 * Yaya Diallo as Yaya
 * Keita Diallo as Kadiatou

Production
While developing the film, Lojkine and casting director Aline Dalbis consulted with food delivery workers in Paris to learn about the challenges they faced and got to know members of the city's Guinean immigrant community. The film's star, Abou Sangare, was identified during an open casting call conducted as part of this research. Sangare had immigrated to France seven years prior to casting, while he was still a teenager.

Scenes in which Souleymane delivered food on his bicycle were filmed by a cameraman riding a bicycle alongside the actor.

To write the final interview scene, the filmmakers gathered input from Guinean asylum seekers and sat in on interviews conducted by Ofpra (the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons).

Release
The Story of Souleymane debuted in the Un Certain Regard portion of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Pyramide Distribution is scheduled to theatrically release the film in France on 9 October 2024.