Sub-Saharan Africa will be the geographical area chosen for this year’s Festival focus. Not one Country but a large zone of the African continent, which in recent years confirmed a particular attention on the work themes, also through cinematographic production. The research has led to the identification of a series of films that have put both individual and collective stories on the front center, providing an in-depth view and knowledge of the working conditions in those territories.

The titles coming from the cinema of Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Madagascar, Nigeria represent these themes well and in the last two years participated in some of the most important cinematographic festivals.

A Golden Life (Or de vie) (2023), from Burkina Faso, by Malian filmmaker Boubakar Sangaré, who went to a gold mine in the south of Burkina Faso to document the life of those, who work without any protection every day from morning until evening in the unhealthy mines, like teenager Rasmane and his peers. The director shows the young protagonists both at work and in rare leisure moments, while they cook, eat together and talk about themselves, about their aspirations, experiences of growth and their families. The filmmaker creates an incredible relationship with those around him.

With Eat Bitter (2023), co-production between Central African Republic and China, female directors Pascale Appora-Gnekindi and Ningyi Sun explore personal, economic and social relationships between the population of the territory and the Chinese who settled in the capital Bangui with active companies in the construction industry. In this film, every person fights in their own way for the survival of their family in a Country devastated by poverty and civil war.

Madagascar as filmed by Michaël Andrianaly in Gwetto (2023) is that of young immigrants without safeguards, who came to work in the economic capital Tamatawe at a car wash station. They are far from their homes and families, they have to suffer discrimination both by their bosses and by the residents who accuse them of fomenting violence in the neighborhood.

No U-Turn (2022) is a road movie by famous Nigerian director Ike Nnaebue. The film, which is narrated in first person, leads us in a journey with Nigerian citizens who leave their Country, traveling towards North through Africa and beyond. They will look for work and possibilities to build a future, despite the unknown and known challenges that await them.