Aya of Yop City (Aya de Yopougon): First trailer
Aya of Yop City is based on the memories of Marguerite Abouet, who was born in the working-class neighborhood of Yopougon, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Her memories surface in the graphic novel series "Aya de Yopougon" (prepared with the collaboration of the graphic artist Clément Oubrerie), in which she presents an Africa country at peace, more urban and modern than otherwise expected.
Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie now direct the animated film Aya of Yop City, produced by Autochenille Productions (responsible for the Annecy-awarded Le Chat du Rabbin)
The French trailer introduces Aya, who is keen on studying, her family, and her two best friends, Adjoua and Bintou -very different from Aya. Things get complicated when Adjoua gets pregnant:
The trailer looks like an adult and more urban version of Ocelot's Kirikou. Here a young girl has to face the challenges of her own environment, and make her own choices.
Aya of Yop City will be presented at the 2013 Annecy film festival, and is released on July 7, 2013 (France).
Visit the blog of Clément Oubrerie, and read the official synopsis below:
Welcome to Yopougon, a working-class neighborhood of Abidjan in the late 70s, renamed Yop City – to sound like an American movie ! This is home to Aya and her two friends, adjoua and Bintou. The're 19-years-old, a time in your life when everything seems possible. But while Aya would like to become a doctor one day, her friends are more into nightclunning at the locaol "maquis" and hunting for a husband.
Around this dynamic trio, we cross characters with diverse destinies like Ignace, Aya's runaround father who juggles several "offices", Moussa, the son of the powerful Bonaventure Sissoko who counts on his Toyota to pick up girls. There's also Fanta and Koro, the mothers who try to protect their daughters. Or Grégoire, the "Parisian" who bloaws his cash at the famous hotel Ivoire.
A true chorale comedy, Aya of Yop City is a chronicle of an unexpected Africa, modern and urban.
Aya of Yop City, copyright: Autochenille Productions, TF1, UGC
