The first time Mamadou Kouassi watched the Oscar-nominated film that was inspired by his life, he wanted to smash the screen.
He had spent “about 250 hours” speaking to director Matteo Garrone – initially via video call early in the pandemic, then holed up at Garrone’s home in Rome – about his brutal three year-journey from west Africa to Europe. Over food and drink, late into the night, they dissected every line of the 300-page script, fine-tuning details in a process Kouassi says “brought peace to my soul”.
