Robert is a 17-year-old Congolese refugee in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR). After his parents are imprisoned, he must care for his four younger siblings while striving to become a musician. That is the story of Congo Boy from director Rafiki Fariala. But it is also his, or at least inspired by his personal story.
The landmark co-production by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the CAR, which world premiered in the Un Certain Regard competition of the Cannes Film Festival, where it won its star Bradley Fiomona Dembeasset the best actor honor in the session, is now unspooling on the big outdoor square in Switzerland, namely the Piazza Grande as part of the 79th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
Congo Boy‘s cast is led by Dembeasset and also features Christy Djomanda Louba, Pétruche Mbomba, Rosiana Kotozia, Gloria Ambacko and Dieufera Sana. The screenplay was written by Fariala, Tommy Baron and Boris Lojkine. Adrien Lallau handled the cinematography, with editing by César Simonot.
The autobiographical film – Fariala is the son of Congolese parents, based in the CAR and a self-taught musician – previously made the 2022 documentary We, Students!, in which he turned the camera on himself and his friends to capture everyday student life at Bangui University. Congo Boy is a production of Mahongo Films in the CAR, co-produced by Kiripifilms in the DRC, which is the company of filmmaker Dieudo Hamadi (Kinshasa Makambo, Downstream to Kinshasa), and France’s Unité.
