Hope

Director: Boris Lojkine 
France | English, French, Arabic 
2014 | 91min | Colour
Subtitles: English
Saturday, Nov 7 Club House, 6:30 PM

Deep in the Sahara desert, Leonard, a young man from Cameroon, rescues Hope, a Nigerian woman. Both of them are making the long treacherous journey to Europe. Grappling with dangers around every corner, the two struggle to survive the corruption and poverty that rules the edges of the towns they pass through, as they desperately seek a better life for themselves. From ghetto wars to dishonest officials, the couple persists with their quest, having lost all their possessions, except for their hope. Their journey reflects the real-life risks of migration that many undocumented immigrants endure. In a fiercely hostile world where safety requires staying with one’s own people, these two try to find their way together, and to love each other.

Boris Lojkine

A graduate of the prestigious Ecole Normale Supérieure and a philosophy teacher, Boris Lojkine wrote a PhD thesis about Crisis and History but decided to leave the academic world shortly afterwards. He put away his books and went back to Vietnam, where he had lived previously, to learn the language and look for adventure. He made two documentary films there, Ceux qui restent (2001) and Les Âmes errantes (2005), which recount, from a Vietnamese point of view, the impossible mourning of men and women whose lives have been torn apart by war. With Hope, his first fiction film, he changes continents and immerses himself in the lives of African migrants.

Credits

Director: Boris Lojkine
Producer: Bruno Nahon
Screenwriter: Boris Lojkine
Cinematographer: Elin Kirschfink
Editor: Gilles Volta
Sound: Marc-Olivier Brullé
Music: David Bryant
Production Company: Zadig Films
Cast: Endurance Newton, Justin Wang, Dieudonné Bertrand Balo’o, Bobby Igiebor, Richmond Ndiri Kouassi, Nabyl Fally Koivogui, Henri Didier Njikam, Martial Eric Italien

Festival Appearances & Awards

Cannes Film Festival 2014 – SACD Award
Filmfest Hamburg 2014 – Film Critic Award
Detour Film Festival, Italy 2014 – Best Film Award
Tubingen French Film Festival 2014 – Best Film Award, Best Actress Award
Melbourne Film Festival 2014
Festival International du Film Black de Montréal 2014
Zurich Film Festival 2014
Busan International Film Festival 2014
Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur 2014
Morelia International Film Festival 2014
Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2014