The Piercing Immigrant Drama of “Souleymane’s Story”

The title of the new film from the French director and screenwriter Boris Lojkine, “Souleymane’s Story,” has a few entwined meanings. In the broadest sense, it describes the movie itself: this is the story of Souleymane (Abou Sangaré), an undocumented immigrant from Guinea-Conakry, who is living in Paris. He is seeking asylum through the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons ( OFPRA ), which is where the title’s second meaning arises. Souleymane’s application requires an in-person interview, and he plans to tell a fabricated story about the circumstances that sent him abroad: namely, that he was forced to flee Guinea after being arrested and imprisoned for political activism. The source of this tale is a man named Barry (Alpha Oumar Sow), who coaches refugees