Projects in development
Les Dieux délinquants
Synopsis
Seventeen-year-old Titenga leaves his traditional village in West Africa in search of a better life in the capital. He quickly falls into a life of misery. To survive, he befriends Ibrahim and the city's beggar children. They become “douanébis”, children who “tax” city dwellers to survive. Between rebellion and delinquency, Titenga loses touch with reality and becomes a gang leader. Believing he is following in the footsteps of his ancestor Pazo, a rebellious spirit from his village, he imagines himself the leader of a social revolt of the country's marginalized people.
BES Ciné (Burkina Faso)
Boubacar Sangaré
Les Films de la Caravane (France)
Madeline Robert
Director’s statement
Les Dieux délinquants is a portrait of African youth in their quest for emancipation, youth lost in the maze of a schizophrenic world, torn between capitalism, tradition, and modern values. The film raises a universal question: that of the place of young people in Africa and in the world, and queries the causes of juvenile delinquency. It depicts the gradual radicalization of neglected young people. Titenga, the main character, is subversive, deeply human, and psychologically unstable. He is an antihero, both powerful and fallible. He finds himself caught in a spiral of which he loses control. He is torn between two extremes: on one hand, there is Sortinata, his mentor, a figure of tolerance who restores balance in an ultra-patriarchal world; on the other, Tibila embodies irrationality and drifting. I want the staging to be rooted in realism, enhanced by a few dreamlike flights of fancy to reflect Titenga's sometimes hallucinatory view of his environment.
Biographies
Boubacar Sangaré is a filmmaker, author, and lawyer from Burkina Faso. His first documentary, A Golden Life (2023), had its world premiere in the Forum section of the Berlin International Film Festival, has been screened at more than 80 festivals, and won some 15 awards. His second feature-length documentary, Djéliya, mémoire du mandingue, scheduled for release in 2026, combines cinéma-vérité and staged scenes. Les Dieux délinquants is the first fiction film he has developed. In addition to his career as a filmmaker, Sangaré is a legal consultant in the fields of cinema and audiovisual media.
In 2012, producer Madeline Robert founded Les Films de la Caravane in Lussas, France, where she has since supported some 15 auteur documentaries, including Boubacar Sangaré's A Golden Life (2023), which was selected for the Berlin International Film Festival and has had a major international career. She has worked closely with Visions du Réel for over 10 years and heads the Swiss fund Visions Sud Est. She regularly acts as a consultant or mentor, drawing on her expertise in documentary filmmaking and international co-productions.
