You Will Be My Ally (2012)

In this gripping short drama, Domé, a young woman from Gabon who speaks flawless French, is apprehended at the airport on her way into Belgium. She says she’s a French citizen—a businesswoman on her way to meet with suppliers. Border control agents say she’s lying and traveling with a stolen passport. Shut in a bare interrogation chamber, Domé faces dehumanizing treatment from accusers, firmly answering the same questions over and over. While left on her own, she can hear cries coming from the next room. Trying to stave off deportation, Domé asks to use the bathroom. There, she carries out a traditional ritual—one which could cost her her life, or give her a chance at a new one. YOU WILL BE MY ALLY is an early work of Rosine Mbakam’s that already shows the themes which have come to inform the award-winning filmmaker’s career.