# ‘Congo Boy’ Is an Autobiographical and Musical Refugee Drama. Its Director Has More in the Works.

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/congo-boy-is-an-autobiographical-and-musical-refugee-drama-its-director-has-more-in-the-works/
- Published: 2026-08-11T07:01:00+00:00
- Original publisher: The Hollywood Reporter
- Original article: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/congo-boy-musical-refugee-drama-film-interview-locarno-2026-1236649374/
- Topics: Entertainment, Film, Geopolitics, Music, Politics

## Key points

- "Congo Boy" screens at Locarno after winning best actor at Cannes.
- Director Rafiki Fariala based the refugee drama on his own life.
- Film highlights refugees displaced within Africa, not just to Europe.

## Summary

Congolese director Rafiki Fariala's autobiographical drama "Congo Boy" is screening on the Piazza Grande at the 79th Locarno Film Festival on 11 August 2026, following its world premiere in the Cannes Un Certain Regard competition, where lead actor Bradley Fiomona Dembeasset won the best actor prize. The film, a co-production between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic, tells the story of Robert, a 17-year-old Congolese refugee in Bangui who must care for his four younger siblings after his parents are imprisoned, all while pursuing music. It matters as a rare cinematic spotlight on refugees displaced within Africa rather than those seeking to reach Europe.

Fariala has said the film closely mirrors his own life, including being shot at and staying with a colonel, drawing on his family's flight from war in the Congo and subsequent detention in the CAR over passport and refugee-card discrepancies. The cast is led by Dembeasset alongside Christy Djomanda Louba, Pétruche Mbomba, Rosiana Kotozia, Gloria Ambacko and Dieufera Sana, with the screenplay co-written by Fariala, Tommy Baron and Boris Lojkine. It is produced by Mahongo Films, Kiripifilms (run by filmmaker Dieudo Hamadi) and France's Unité, and follows Fariala's 2022 documentary "We, Students!", which led to his own exile in France after being censored in the CAR.

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