Félicité
Félicité works as a singer in a bar in the chaotic metropolis of Kinshasa. She struggles to make ends meet, but is happy to be independent. One day, she gets a call: her 14-year-old son has landed in hospital after a motorcycle accident. He needs surgery to save his leg. First she’ll have to find the required 900 dollars to pay for it though, money she unsurprisingly doesn’t have available. Pushed by as much despair as determination, Félicité roams the city looking for help, but everybody turns her down. Only her neighbour, handyman Tabu, seems to care.
Director Alain Gomis depicts Kinshasa as a place where everything revolves around money and self-interest, a city seemingly devoid of humanity and beauty. As a counterpoint, these images are intercut with dreamlike night-time scenes coloured by silence and poetry, and with music by the Kasai Allstars collective, Kinshasa Symphonic Orchestra, and others.
Berlinale and Fespaco (Ouagadougou) Award winner.