Berlin

Félicité is a proud and independent woman who works as a singer in a bar in Kinshasa. Whenever she goes on stage, she appears to leave the world and her everyday worries behind. Her audiences are quickly infected by the rhythm of her music and her powerful, melancholy melodies. But then one day Félicité’s son has a terrible accident. Whilst he is in hospital she desperately tries to raise the money needed for his operation. A breathless tour through the impoverished streets and the wealthier districts of the Congolese capital ensues. One of the bar’s regulars is a man named Tabu who has been known to get carried away in every sense of the term. Tabu offers to help Félicité. Reluctantly, she accepts. After his spell in hospital, Félicité’s son has a hard time picking up his old life, but it is lady’s man Tabu of all people who manages to coax him out of his shell. Félicité’s sparsely furnished flat with its permanently defunct fridge becomes a mini utopia in a country that holds no hope for most of its population. The trio forms an eccentric community thrown together by fate, each of whom is free to go their separate ways together.

by
Alain Gomis

France / Senegal / Belgium / Germany / Lebanon 2017

Lingala

123 min · Colour

WITH

Véro Tshanda Beya (Félicité)
Gaetan Claudia (Samo)
Papi Mpaka (Tabu)

CREW

Written and directed by

Alain Gomis

Director of Photography

Céline Bozon

Editor

Fabrice Rouaud

Music

The Kasaï Allstars

Sound Design

Jean-Pierre Laforce, Fred Meert

Sound

Benoit De Clerck

Production Design

Oumar Sall (le grand)

Costumes

Nadine Ostobogo Boucher, Emma Zola

Make-up

Nadine Ostobogo Boucher, Ana Senghor

Assistant Director

Demba Deye, Delphine Daull

Casting

Roger Ngandu Kangudia, Deschamps Matala Shakembo

Production Manager

Oumar Sall

Producers

Arnaud Dommerc, Alain Gomis, Omar Sall

Executive Producer

Roger Ngandu Kangudia

Co-producers

Anne-Laure Guégan, Géraldine Sprimont, Vanessa Ciszewski, Georges Schoucair

Co-production

Need Productions, Brüssel
Katuh Studio, Berlin
Schortcut Films, Beirut