Morbayassa

Directed by Cheick Fantamady Camara

With Fatoumata Diawara, Sylvain Cherokee, Tella Kpomahou, Alexandre Ogou and Claire Simba

Bella, a 30-year-old Guinean cabaret singer, lives a miserable, dangerous life as a prostitute in Dakar. Though she longs for escape, a gang of pimps, led by Kèba, treat her like property and make sure she keeps in her place. Her only hope is the thought of earning enough money to escape and reunite with her daughter, who she gave up at birth at age 15—a desperate act that haunts Bella’s nightmares and fills her with guilt. While fleeing an angry client, she meets Yélo, a Guinean worker for the United Nations, who happens to be passing through Dakar. Instantly smitten, Yélo agrees to help Bella, and so begins an epic journey of redemption, from Guinea to Paris. But can the young couple escape the clutches of the menacing Kèba?