This is Devor’s first venture into the docu-fiction genre, a space in which he feels completely at home. We follow a police officer of Senegalese origin who has just arrived in Seattle and patrols the city by bicycle. In a Wolof voice-over, he describes what he experiences and feels, taking us along on his patrols and wanderings.

The narrative dissonance—where notions like familiarity, alienation, and belonging or not belonging coexist—is conveyed in a deeply compelling way through Sean Kirby’s beautiful cinematography and a subtle staging of an Americana as seen through the eyes of an outsider. The incidents he encounters are drawn from authentic interventions by the Seattle police and are seamlessly woven into the story, which is brilliantly written by Robinson Devor and Zimbabwean author Charles Tonderai Mudede.

Screenings: 2/5 & 24/5.