Tact Production

The Mercy of the Jungle is a road movie that deals with wars in Congo through the eyes of two lost soldiers in the jungle by showcasing their struggle, weakness and hope.

Idrissa lives in the suburbs of Dakar, Senegal. As a result of budgetary restrictions imposed by the IMF, then headed by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, he lost his job as a civil servant. Since then, Idrissa has been looking for work, without success. His pride as an African man is all the more affected by the fact that he is now entirely dependent on his wife, Viviane, who somehow manages to support the family through her medical practice. Aminata (Idrissa and Viviane’s daughter) and Moussa, two young students in love with each other, also see their lives disrupted by the economic situation imposed on the country. After yet another humiliation, Idrissa, who holds Strauss-Kahn responsible for his misfortune, decides to go and see a marabout to prepare his revenge…

Lia, a Belgian-Rwandan basketball player facing the twilight of her career. Twenty years after fleeing the genocide, she is asked to join the Rwandan national basketball team. This journey stirs buried memories of a painful past: exile, family silences and the pain of a fractured identity. Through her eyes, the film explores confrontation between memory and the present, and a nation scarred by tragedy with a contemporary Rwanda brimming with life and creativity.

The former French colonies in Central and West Africa have been independent since 1960, but most of these countries still use the currency of the former oppressor: the CFA franc. It was linked to the French franc when it was introduced, so the national bank in Paris controlled monetary policy. Now the currency has a fixed exchange rate with the euro. The link with the European currency strongly influences the monetary policy of CFA countries. And that means the value of the CFA franc is defined by political decisions taken elsewhere, rather than by the domestic economy.

Sofiane, the son of a former Algerian diplomat, has travelled a lot. Having moved to Lyon for his studies, he is the victim of an administrative decision and lives under constant threat of deportation. In the hope of regularising his situation, he agrees to work for a Muslim funeral parlour. Between parties, encounters and his job, Sofiane finds himself on a journey of initiation that will lead him to build his own identity and gradually move towards adulthood.

Rayna is a Bulgarian prostitute, working in Brussels’ red light district. One night, she shares a mystical and sexual moment with an African client, who dies shortly after. That night will haunt her.

A rugby stadium in southwestern France. Each and every Sunday, bodies collide. Along the sidelines, Louis and his juniors comrades are fascinated by the feats of the senior team.

Dembe died of an overdose in the distant metropolis of Dakar. His father refuses to bury him in the family graveyard in the village, believing that his soul has become “impure”. Dembe’s mother decides to take matters into her own hands.

“Stories Keep Me Awake At Night” is the portrait of day-to-day childhood. A village, a family, a little boy who likes to wear dresses, the return of the wolf and everyday life, ordinary, banal. These elements are used to tell of hidden desires.

A man returns to his home in the Colombian countryside after a long fishing night and discovers that paramilitary forces have killed his two sons and thrown their bodies into the river.

In the streets of Algiers, jacaranda trees bloom like shards of memory. Following in the footsteps of his father, Ameziane, a writer haunted by these purple trees, Hassen Ferhani explores the city, legacy and love. A rich and intimate quest in which writing, filming or choosing beauty become acts of resistance.

Director Delphine Wil collects testimonies from the last witnesses of the evangelization of the Congo, missionary priests and Congolese servants in their nineties, in order to paint as nuanced a portrait as possible.