The Story of Souleymane

As he pedals through the streets of Paris to deliver meals, Souleymane repeats his story. In two days, he must go through his asylum application interview, the key to obtaining papers. But Souleymane (a charismatic central performance from Abou Sangare) is not ready. He fled Guinea and is now in France sleeping in hostels and working illegally as a bike courier and delivery guy (on another man’s account). He is surviving yet concerned that the (false) story he is rehearsing will not be sufficient to convince the authorities that he deserves to stay. The film builds growing tensions on the precariousness of his existence, his fears for the future, and his worries about those he left behind. This is a piece of propulsive social realist storytelling with echoes of Bicycle Thieves, and the films of the Dardenne Brothers.