Falta is struggling to come to terms with the loss of her father in a terrorist attack. Her classmates, brothers Ibrahim and Mohamed, have fled their village and are now with a foster family. The Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram has been leading attacks against Cameroon’s Far North region since 2014, and this constant threat is woven into daily existence. In her debut feature-length documentary, director Cyrielle Raingou, a native of the region, brings us the lives of a group of children in Kolofata. Raingou’s urgent, sincere documentary shows the violence and the psychological effects of living under constant guard. It also shows with poignancy how family and community are able to support each other.

This screening will be introduced by journalist Sally Hayden, who has reported multiple times from northeast Nigeria on Boko Haram for outlets including the Irish Times, ELLE, and VICE News. For this, and other work, she has twice won foreign correspondent of the year at the Newsbrands Irish Journalism Awards, and was a finalist for the Amnesty International Media Awards, the One World Media Awards, and the Frontline Club Awards, among others. Sally is the author of My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World’s Deadliest Migration Route, which won the Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2022 and was named An Post Irish Book of the Year.

Notes by Marie-Pierre Richard

Screening as part of the IFI French Film Festival, November 15 – 26.