Félicité, a French drama that depicts the life a nightclub singer in Kinshasa, won the grand prize at the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco).

Written and directed by Senegalese-French filmmaker Alain Gomis and released early this year, the film won the Étalon de Yennenga (Golden Yennenga Stallion) on March 4 at the 25th edition of Fespaco held in Ouagadougou.

Besides the Golden Stallion, which is the equivalent of the Palme d’Or, Gomis also went home with a cash prize of $32,000.

Félicité is played by Veronique Beya Mputu, a single mother who sings at a bar in Kinshasa.

Whenever Félicité performs on stage, she appears to leave her worries behind. Her audiences are quickly infected by the rhythm and melodies.

One day Félicité’s teenage son, Samo (Gaetan Claudia), is involved in an accident that has him admitted at a municipal hospital.

In order to pay the doctors, Felicite is forced to knock at the doors on the impoverished streets and the wealthier districts of Kinshasa for money.

Félicité’s sparsely furnished flat, with its permanently defunct fridge, becomes a mini utopia.

Gomis, who was born in Paris, France in 1972, studied art history and film at the Sorbonne University in Paris. He began his trade by making videos and short films.

Félicité is acted in Lingala with French subtitles, and is Gomis’s fourth feature film. Félicité won the Silver Bear jury prize at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival in Germany.

At Fespaco 2017, the Silver Stallion prize went to Un Orage Africain (An African Storm), an anti-colonial tale by Benin director Sylvestre Amoussou, and the Bronze Stallion to A Mile in My Shoes, a drama by Said Khallaf of Morocco.

Un Orage Africain explores the history of colonialism and imperialism in Africa, and the exploitation of the continent by the former occupiers and current leaders.
The biannual Fespaco, which ran from February 25 to  March 4, attracted 1,000 films competing for prizes in various categories.