AYA
Belgium, France, 2021 / 90 min / Dyula & French OV with English subtitles / Drama
Aya has led a joyful and carefree life, growing up on the island of Lahou in the Ivory Coast. However, her paradise is threatened by its surrounding waters. She is left with a choice: stay and help her island, or flee and watch it disappear.
Focus ACID - Sélection Cannes: The Association du cinéma indépendant pour sa diffusion (ACID) is an association of filmmakers defending independent cinema. In order to offer visibility to young talents, ACID has also been present at the Cannes Film Festival since 1993 with a parallel programme of 9 films, most of which are without distributor. In 2022, the LuxFilmFest inaugurates a partnership with ACID with a selection of three films in its general programme.
| Fri | 04/03 | 19:00 | Neimënster | Dyula & French OV with ENG.subt | https://www.neimenster.lu/Culture/Programmation-culturelle/Agenda/Cinema/Aya-Fri... |
« The film oozes formal beauty, all the more so upon learning it was shot by a tiny team, which you’d never know when you see it on screen. The director turned his hand to photography, sound, continuity and artistic direction, while two assistant directors handled translations, liaising with the island’s inhabitants, amateur actors who reconstructed their present-day reality.” Aurore Engelen, Cineuropa, 16/07/2021
- First Film Competition, Best Actor Award, Namur International Festival of French-Speaking Film, 2021 (Belgium)
- Golden Bayard, Best First Film Nominee, Namur International Festival of French-Speaking Film, 2021 (Belgium)
- International Feature Competition, Best Film Nominee, Guanajuato International Film Festival, 2021 (Mexico)
Simon Gillard was born in Kostenets, in 1986. He has been travelling through West Africa, from Senegal to Benin, for the last ten years. During these journeys, he made a lot of acquaintances, some of which turned out to be crucial for his inspiration to make movies. In 2013, his first documentary Anima is selected in many festivals including the FID Marseille, Zinebi (Bilbao) or Filmer A Tout Prix (Brussels). In 2014, he made a second short documentary Yaar, which screened in over 60 festivals worldwide and won nearly 20 awards. Among them, he won the best short documentary at the prestigious festival Dei Popoli in Florence and the award for best cinematography at FIFF of Namur. Boli Bana is the third and last film of this African trilogy.
- 2021 - Aya
- 2020 - Talamanca (Documentaire)
- 2017 - Boli Bana (Documentaire)
- 2014 - Yaar (Documentaire)
- 2013 - Anima (Documentaire)
