Promised Sky
This moving and deeply humane drama follows three women from Côte d’Ivoire living together in Tunisia, whose fragile bond is tested when a child orphaned at sea comes into their care.
In Promised Sky, Erige Sehiri – previously known for her documentaries – turns her camera to the side streets of Tunisia. Sehiri turns to fiction to depict the lives of women who have emigrated from the Ivory Coast. Marie (Aïssa Maïga) works as a priest and a reporter and hosts a student called Jolie (Laëtitia Ky, who charmed R&A audiences in 2023 in Disco Boy) and the con artist Naney (Déborah Naney) in her home. The fourth person to join the household is tiny Kenza (Estelle Dogbo), whose family seems to have drowned in an illegal attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea. Daily life is not simple, but it is coloured by a sense of community, laughter and hope for a better future.
Despite the compassionate tone, Promised Sky is no feelgood story. The melancholic hues of blue wash over the film as we learn about the darker sides of different immigration statuses and reasons for migration of the characters. Xenophobia, racism and authoritarianism lift their heads as the tenacious women have to fear raids in churches and even being abducted from the streets. The images resonate for a Finnish viewer, because something that happens ”far away” could also eventually happen to us if we let hate and fear dictate the course of history and our society.
Riikka Haapanen
Trailer
