''Boxing Libreville'' is a documentary film released in 2018 about the struggles and hardship a young Gabonese man, Christ, has in his journey to be a boxer and how it is mirrored in the struggle for democracy in the country. It is directed by Amédée Pacôme Nkoulou, and is his feature length film debut.

Synopsis

Filmed in 2016 Christ Olsen Mickala is a young aspiring boxer living in

Libreville Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon. Occupying in the northwestern province of Estuaire, Libreville is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea. As of the 2013 census, its population was 703,904. The area has been inh ...

, the capital of the central African nation of

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

. Christ spends all day training in boxing, while at night he works as a doorman at local nightclubs to make ends meet. Meanwhile, the struggle Christ endures in his boxing dream is mirrored by the struggle for democracy in Gabon during that year's controversial and hotly contested

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

. Although the election seems to be only a background, its impact on Gabon will affect its people for many years to come.

Production

The documentary was produced by Princess M, ADV productions, and Les Films du Bilboquet. As is often the case with African cinema, special care was taken to avoid censorship, such as focusing primarily on Christ's life and training and not on politics, although the latter is a major undertone of the film. The production of the film was an international collaboration, with Princess M being based in Gabon, ADV productions being based in Belgium, and Les Films du Bilboquet being based in France.

Release and reception

''Boxing Libreville'' was enthusiastically received. It received the award for best documentary at the Festival de cine africano de Tarif in Spain. The film also received the Special Jury Prize of the Agadir International Documentary Film Festival in Morocco. ''Boxing Libreville'' was entered in the International Short and Medium Film Competition at the

Visions du Réel Visions du Réel (Visions of Reality) is an internationally renowned documentary film festival held in April each year in Nyon, Switzerland. Established in 1969 as the Nyon International Documentary Film Festival, the event adopted its current na ...

. It was screened at several other film festivals, including the

Internationales Dokumentarfilmfestival München The International Documentary Film Festival Munich (Internationales Dokumentarfilmfestival München e.V. – DOK.fest München for short) has been held annually in Munich, Germany since 1985. Since 2001 it has been organised by the association ''In ...

and Ecrans Noirs in Cameroon. The director has discussed creating a sequel.

References

{{reflist Documentary films about boxing Documentaries about politics 2018 documentary films 2018 films 2010s French-language films Films set in Gabon Gabonese documentary films 2018 directorial debut films