France and Guinea / 2003 / 96mins / Comedy, Drama / French

The village’s water pump is on its last legs and Moussa (played by the director, Cheik Doukouré) is appointed to go and buy a new one in Paris. On his journey, he encounters a plethora of remarkable characters and typical immigrant difficulties: crime, police raids, working at random odd jobs. However, he also experiences the solidarity of their community. This humorous and moving film stirred controversy in France, and was awarded the Human Rights award by the United Nations in 2003. Doukouré won the Best Actor award at FESPACO 2003.

Cheik Doukoure

Cheik Doukouré was born in Kankan, Guinea in 1943. After studying in Conakry, he moved to Paris in 1964, where he earned a degree of modern literature from the Sorbonne in 1968. An accomplished actor, he has appeared in numerous stage plays and films. He worked with directors like Audiard, Mocky, and Girod. On stage, he acted in plays directed by Chéreau, Hossein, and Mondy. His screen writing credits include work on Jacques Champreux’s Bako, l’autre rive (1977) and Marco Ferreri’s Y a bon les Blancs (1987). White Ebony (Blanc d’ébène) marked Doukouré’s feature film debut in 1991. He then directed The Golden Ball (Le Ballon d’or - 1992) which, with 450,000 admissions in France was one of the most successful films from Africa. In 2003 he made Paris selon Moussa (Paris According to Moussa) which earned him the Award for Best Actor at the 18th edition of Fespaco (Pan-African Film Festival of Ouagadougou). Learn More