Abou Sangare, a former undocumented Guinean migrant regularised after his role in the film “The Story of Souleymane,” received the César for Most Promising Actor on Friday.
“I almost had no life, I was living among men like that. I no longer considered myself a human being,” Abou Sangare said on stage at the Olympia in Paris on receiving the French film award. “Since I crossed the Mediterranean until April 2023, I experienced everything… misery, everything that makes a human being, both good and bad.”
“Thank you for integrating me into humanity,” he added, addressing the film’s team and the César Academy.
Born on 7 May 2001 in Sinko, southeast Guinea, Abou Sangare was already an apprentice mechanic when he left his country hoping to help his sick mother.
As a teenager, he crossed Mali, Algeria, Libya, the Mediterranean, and Italy before arriving in Paris in 2018 at the age of 16.
Working as a heavy-duty mechanic in a garage in Picardy, he met the director of 'The Story of Souleymane,' Boris Lojkine, during an extensive casting process in Amiens.
Until recently, Abou Sangare was an undocumented migrant threatened with expulsion from France.
In the film, the hero, Souleymane, is also Guinean but survives as a bicycle deliveryman in Paris, roaming the capital with a cubic bag on his back while anxiously preparing for his asylum interview.
Premiered at Cannes in May 2024 in the Un Certain Regard section, the film received the Jury Prize, and Abou Sangare won the Best Actor award in this parallel section.
