Teenage Jahia lives in a refugee centre. She is withdrawn, keeps to herself, and spends her evenings in the kitchen cooking meals for her mother — a woman in deep psychological crisis, haunted by memories of their escape from Burkina Faso. When Mila arrives at the centre, Jahia’s life changes completely. Mila’s forced yet genuine optimism breaks through Jahia’s barriers, while the wait for the life-changing asylum decision remains terrifying. One day, Mila and her family receive their verdict. In this deeply unsettling yet still hopeful drama, we follow two sensitive friends who try to navigate an unstable, artificial existence — one where life seems to have an expiration date.

Creators and cast

Director: Olivier Meys
Screenplay: Olivier Meys, John Shank
Cinematography: Benoît Dervaux
Music: Celine Bernard
Cast: Rania Noura Bance, Sofiia Malovatska, Celine Sallette, Audrey Kouakou, Eugenie Anselin

About the film

Age: 15+
Duration: 100′
Polish subtitles
Belgium, France, Luxembourg, 2024
Polish premiere

Film scholar’s recommendation

Jahia’s Summer, dir. Olivier Meys (Belgium–France, 2024).
Another work by the Belgian filmmaker, who made his feature debut with Bitter Flowers (2017), the story of a young woman from China leaving her family behind to seek a better life in France. Meys remains close to the themes of migration and displacement in this new film, which follows two teenage girls from distant countries — Burkina Faso and Moldova — living in a refugee support centre in Belgium. With his realistic observation of everyday life and his deep humanism that sides with the most vulnerable, Olivier Meys proves himself a worthy successor to the masters of Belgian and world cinema — the Dardenne brothers. Interestingly, a poignant and symbolic postscript to this fact is that Jahia’s Summer marks the final film appearance of one of the outstanding actresses of Belgian cinema in recent decades, Émilie Dequenne, star of Rosetta (1999) by the Dardennes and Close (2022) by Lukas Dhont.

Accessibility for people with additional needs

the screening on 24.11 will take place in Auditorium 3 with 130 seats, the screening on 26.11 will take place in Auditorium 2 with 181 seats;
you may leave (e.g., to use the restroom) and return to the auditorium during the screening;
before the screening you can borrow noise-cancelling headphones free of charge. You will find them at the festival box office (at the entrance to the Helios cinema);
remember to choose seats close to the exit if you or the people you are attending with might need to leave during the screening;
some films contain content that may be difficult or sensitive. Click the ‘Sensitive content’ link to open the file and check which sensitive content appears in this film;
click: Architectural accessibility of the Helios cinema to learn more about the layout of both the cinema and Posnania, and how to move around them.

Festival accessibility coordinator:
Marta Maksimowicz
tel. 884 936 747
email: dostepnosc@csdpoznan.pl

Trailer

Photo Gallery

Dwie dziewczyny rozmawiają, siedząc na zewnątrz

Dwie dziewczyny rozmawiają, słuchając muzyki w tych samych słuchawkach

Plakat filmowy przedstawiający dwie dziewczyny, z których jedna patrzy na drugą

Jahia's Summer

Podsumowanie:

Sugerowany wiek: 15+

Czas trwania: 100'