Skip to main content
Félicité film image; woman dancing

Félicité

FOCUS

This event has passed

Félicité is a proud, free-willed woman working as a singer in a bar in Kinshasa. Her life is thrown into turmoil when her 14-year-old son falls victim to an accident. To save him, she sets out on a breakneck race through the streets of electric Kinshasa – a world of music and dreams where she’ll cross paths with Tabu…

Félicité is a force; a woman who, when faced with the ghastly injury of her son, must pull out all the stops to save him. Through the busy streets of Kinshasa, she rushes against time and all odds to restore order to her life. Véro Tshanda Beya Mputu’s performance is singular in its portrayal of the difficulties of city life as a woman. We witness her navigate her job as a singer and her inevitable grief as a woman touched by life.

Kika Memeh & Ogheneofegor Obuwoma, FOCUS Curators

 

Presented by

Director
Cast

Véro Tshanda Beya Mputu, Gaetan Claudia, Papi Mpaka

Credits
Country of Origin

France/Senegal/Belgium/
Germany/Lebanon

Year

2017

Language

In Lingala with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
123 min
Black Cinema Drama
Andolfi, Granit Films

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Roger Ngandu Kangudia

Producer

Arnaud Dommerc, Alain Gomis, Omar Sall

Screenwriter

Alain Gomis

Cinematography

Céline Bozon

Editor

Fabrice Rouaud

Production Design

Oumar Sall

Original Music

The Kasaï Allstars

Alain Gomis headshot; Félicité director

Alain Gomis

Alain Gomis was born in Paris, France where he studied art history and film. After making videos and short films, his first feature film L’afrance (2002) won the Silver Leopard at Locarno. Félicité was shown at the Competition section of the 2017 Berlinale.

Filmography: L’afrance (2002); Andalucia (2007); Aujourd’hui (2012); Rewind & Play (2022)

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Two Women

Dir. Chloé Robichaud
100 min

In this light-hearted, emancipatory take on a classic sex farce, two neglected married women discover the joys of casual sex and get their plumbing fixed.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Love

Dir. Dag Johan Haugerud
119 min

This warm, thoughtful piece offers shrewd comic observations on modern dating as it trains a quizzical eye on the trysts of a female doctor, Marianne (Andrea Bræin Hovig), and her colleague, a gay male nurse, Tor (Tayo Cittadella Jacobsen).

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
Nechako: It Will Be a Big River Again
Nechako: It Will Be a Big River Again film; overhead shot of churning water

Nechako: It Will Be a Big River Again

Dir. Lyana Patrick
91 min

In the face of environmental destruction, two Nations fight to restore their river and a way of life.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Tornado

Dir. John Maclean
91 min

Scotland in the 1790s, travelling circus samurai Tornado (Kōki) runs afoul of a band of murderous brigands led by Tim Roth and his ambitious son, Jack Lowden. Mayhem ensues.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Fairy Creek

Dir. Jen Muranetz
86 min

Considered the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history, the Fairy Creek blockade led to more than 1200 arrests. What Jen Muranetz's film gives us is the story from the front line from the activists' point of view (often, from the treetops).

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The True Story of Tamara De Lempicka & The Art of Survival

Dir. Julie Rubio
96 min

If Art Deco had a face, it was surely Tamara De Lempicka, giving us the side-eye at the wheel of a green Bugati in her famous self-portrait. Rubio's invaluable doc teases out the truths behind the myths, shedding light on De Lempicka's still underrated art.

Image: © 2024 TAMARA DE LEMPICKA ESTATE, LLC ADAGP, PARIS ARS, NY

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre