An award winning French film that casts a clear and unsentimental eye on life at the margins is set to be screened in Thurles early next year.
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Souleymane’s Story will be shown at The Source Arts Centre on Wednesday, January 21, 2026 at 8pm. Directed by Boris Lojkine, the 93 minute film follows three pressured days in the life of a Guinean migrant trying to survive in Paris while preparing for a decisive asylum interview.
The story centres on Souleymane, played by first time actor Abou Sangaré, who works as a food delivery cyclist in the city’s gig economy.
His days are governed by algorithms, deadlines and the weather, while his nights depend on securing a place in an overstretched homeless shelter.
Each evening he must rebook his bed. Each morning he returns to the streets on his bicycle, the single piece of equipment standing between him and complete destitution.
The film draws deliberate parallels with European social realist cinema. Like the bicycle in Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves, Souleymane’s bike is not simply a means of transport but the foundation of his livelihood. If it fails or is stolen, his fragile stability collapses with it.
Rather than leaning on melodrama, Lojkine focuses on the quiet strain of endurance. Souleymane sometimes sleeps illegally in stairwells.
At other times he navigates an informal courier network where workers rent verified delivery accounts to survive. As his interview approaches, he is coached by another Guinean migrant to memorise a fabricated account of political persecution, because the reality of his hardship will not meet the threshold for asylum.
The film does not dwell on the abstract politics of borders. Instead it depicts how immigration systems, housing shortages and precarious work interact to grind people down.
Moments of kindness do appear, from fellow migrants, a kebab shop owner or another shelter resident, but they are fleeting in a city that largely passes Souleymane by.
Abou Sangaré’s performance earned him the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival. In real life, the actor arrived in France aged 16 and has used the recognition from the film to appeal for the right to work legally as a mechanic.
His restrained portrayal conveys exhaustion and resilience through small gestures and silences, supported by Tristan Galand’s close following camerawork and a naturalistic pace that recalls the films of the Dardenne brothers.
Souleymane’s Story was released in 2024 and is presented in French. The screening at The Source Arts Centre is subject to confirmation or change.
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