USA and Nigeria / 2011 / 80mins / Drama, Romance / English and French

An indie retelling of the Horatio Alger myth, Restless City follows a few days in the life of Djibril, a Senegalese immigrant living in Harlem. Djibril survives selling CDs on Canal Street, hoping the day will come when he will be recognized as a great singer and will be able to go back with his parents to Africa. He pursues his dream of becoming a musician following the rhythms of the big city in his scooter and trying not to get involved in shady business. Everything changes when he meets Trini, a gorgeous African women and prostitute working for Bekay, the neighborhood loan shark.

Andrew Dosunmu

Raised and educated in Nigeria, Andrew Dosunmu began his career as a design assistant at the fashion house of Yves Saint-Laurent. He has subsequently worked as a Creative Director and fashion photographer, whose images have appeared in a variety of international magazines. Besides a flourishing career in photography, Dosunmu is also active in film and television. His award-winning documentary Hot Irons (1998) won best documentary at FESPACO and the Reel Award at Toronto International Film Festival. In South Africa, Dosunmu has directed episodes of the widely acclaimed television series Yizo Yizo which dramatizes the policy debates around education in post-apartheid South Africa through a frank presentation of the social crises and conflicts at a Johannesburg high school. Dosunmu has also served as creative director for album covers (for such artists as Erykah Badu and Public Enemy), and directed music videos, including his first for Isaac Hayes, Angie Stone, Common, Wyclef Jean, Kelis, Aaron Neville, Maxwell, Tracy Chapman and Talib Kweli. Dosunmu was selected to participate in the photography exhibition Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary Photography at the International Center of Photography. In 2007, Dosunmu was honored with the request to speak at the TED Global conference. Restless City (2010) was Dosunmu’s first feature film endeavor. It was followed in 2013 by Mother of George, listed as a USA National Board of Review Top Ten Independent Film in 2013 and winner of the Cinematography Award for Bradford Young at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. His 2017 drama, Where Is Kyra? starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Kiefer Sutherland, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2017. Learn More