Disco Boy 15

Franz Rogowski stars in Giacomo Abbruzzese’s thrilling fiction feature debut, a ‘freaky trip into the heart of imperial darkness’ (The Guardian) that recalls Claire Denis’ Beau Travail.

Alienated from his homeland, young Belarusian Aleksei (Rogowski) has his sights set on becoming a French citizen. After a painful journey through Europe, he enlists in the Foreign Legion. But fate propels him into the Niger Delta where fearless, charismatic revolutionary Jomo (Morr Ndiaye) is battling the insidious oil conglomerates that threaten his community’s future. While Aleksei seeks a new family in the Legion, Jomo dreams of being a ‘disco boy’. In the jungle, their paths converge, intertwining their destinies across borders, bodies, life and death.

Bold, ambitious, immersively shot and sound-tracked (with a trippy, driving electronic score by Vitalic and cinematography by Hélène Louvart that captures scenery from an African delta to a Paris nightclub), Disco Boy is a vivid odyssey exploring the effects of European industrial and military activities in Africa and the weight of history and nationality on individual lives.