‘Congo Boy’ Is an Autobiographical and Musical Refugee Drama. Its Director Has More in the Works.
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.
- "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.
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Rafiki Fariala is a Congolese filmmaker whose new drama, "Congo Boy", is based closely on his own life. It follows a teenage refugee in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, who has to look after his younger siblings and pursue his passion for music after his parents are jailed. Fariala's own family fled conflict in Congo and were later detained in the CAR, experiences he has drawn on directly for the story.
The film has already had a high-profile launch, premiering at the Cannes Un Certain Regard programme, where its lead actor won a top acting prize, and it is now showing at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, one of Europe's longest-running film events. It was made jointly by companies from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic and France, reflecting the cross-border nature of the story it tells.
The film is notable for focusing on refugees who remain within Africa rather than those who try to reach Europe, a perspective less often seen on screen. Fariala previously made a documentary that was censored in the Central African Republic, a experience that contributed to him living in exile in France, adding further personal weight to his work as a director.