STORIES IN EXILE: THE CITIZEN & BLACK DJU: Two fiction films that explore life in exile. Set in Hungary, THE CITIZEN follows Guinea-Bissau political refugee Wilson. BLACK DJU is a drama set in Luxembourg about a young man from Cape Verde looking for his father.
THE CITIZEN
In his late fifties Wilson, whose family was killed during an outbreak of civil war in Guinea-Bissau, enters Europe as a political refugee and settles for a sedate life as a security guard in a Budapest shopping center. Wilson's main desire is to acquire Hungarian citizenship. The story follows Wilson as he attempts to find his place in Hungarian society in his daily life, at work, with Mari, a history teacher who helps him study for the citizenship and Shirin, a young Iranian woman whose only hope to avoid deportation is to marry a Hungarian citizen. The Citizen is an Award-winning drama that poignantly dwells on some of the most complex issues of contemporary modern European society.
Directed by Roland Vranik | Hungary | 2018 | Drama | 109 min
BLACK DJU
From the sea and sun of the Cape Verde Island, it's a very big step to rainy, gloomy, land-locked Luxembourg, but that's the journey 20-year-old Dju Dele Dibonga must take to track down his dad, whose yearly visits and monthly guest worker checks have stopped. But it's not just the weather that's not welcoming, Dju also has to face overzealous immigration cops intent on filling deportation quotas and the noisy outrage of a hard-boozing police lieutenant (veteran actor Philippe Léotard). Dad's trail looks cold, until lieutenant decides to join in the hunt and to become Dju's partner in this tale of love and friendship. With the exceptional participation of Cape Verdian singer Cesaria Evora as Dju's mother and Manu Dibango as himself.
Directed By Pol Cruchten / Cape Verde And Luxembourg / 1997 / Portuguese & French With English Subtitles / 80 Min
