As part of its collaboration with the Tübingen Francophone Film Festival, the Chair of Italian and French, headed by Prof. Dr Susanne Goumegou, is hosting African film directors for seminars at the University of Tübingen.

The events will take place at the Neuphilologikum (Brechtbau), Wilhelmstraße 50, 72074 Tübingen:

Friday, 30 October 2026, 12.45–14.00, Room 006: Discussion with Rafiki Fariala, director of the film “Congo Boy” (screened at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival) and Auguste Bernard Kouemo, director of the film “La Maison du vent” (screened at the Venice Film Festival)

Tuesday, 3 November 2026, 10:00-12:00, Room 006: Discussion with Boubacar Sangaré, director of the film “Djeliya, mémoire du Mandé”

Speakers’ biographies

Rafiki Fariala (Bild 3) (Fariala Alolea Albert) is a film director, screenwriter and musician born in 1997 in Uvira, in the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He arrived in the Central African Republic at a very young age, where his parents had sought refuge during the war, and grew up in Bangui. Initially known on the Central African music scene under the pseudonym Rafiki-RH2O, he discovered filmmaking in 2017 whilst attending a documentary filmmaking workshop organised by Ateliers Varan in Bangui. There, he made his first short film, *Mbi na Mo – Toi et moi* (2017). He gained international recognition with his first feature-length documentary, *Nous, étudiants !* (2022), which was selected for the Panorama section at the Berlinale and won awards at several festivals, notably FESPACO. In 2025, he directed his first feature-length fiction film, *Congo Boy*, which was presented in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. His films focus in particular on the experiences of African youth, social realities, and individual and collective aspirations.

Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu (Bild 2) (born in 1976 in Yaoundé, Cameroon) is a Cameroonian film director, screenwriter and producer. After receiving his initial training in filmmaking with the Écrans Noirs association in Cameroon, he continued his studies at the École nationale supérieure de l’audiovisuel (ENSAV) in Toulouse, France. He has directed several short films, including *L’Enveloppe* (2002), *Le Premier Pas* (2006), *Racines* (2008) and *Waramutsého!* (2008), which won the Bronze Foal at FESPACO in 2009. He also directed *Les Empreintes douloureuses* (2015) and *Mon ami Fukushima* (2022). As founder of the production company Horizons d’Afrique, he creates films that focus on social realities, issues of memory and human experiences. With *La Maison du vent* (2026), his first feature-length fiction film, presented at the Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti section, he explores, in particular, the loneliness of the elderly, emigration and family ties through the portrait of a woman who has remained in Cameroon whilst her children live in Europe.

Boubacar Sangaré (Bild 1), born in 1985 in Burkina Faso, is a director, writer and lawyer specialising in film and media law. He studied law and film directing and has worked for organisations including the CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée) and TV5MONDE. Following several short films and the documentaries *Une révolution africaine : les dix jours qui ont fait chuter Blaise Compaoré* (2015) and *Or de vie* (2023), he turned his attention to *Djeliya, mémoire du Mandé*. The film had its world premiere at the Visions du Réel Festival in 2026 and received a Special Mention from the jury. Sangaré is currently working on *Les dieux délinquants*, his first feature film, as well as *Baba Sora le playboy*, a documentary about the enigmatic Malian billionaire Babani Sissoko.