On Friday, April 3rd, at the La Cascade cinema in Martigues, the animated feature film “Allah n’est pas obligé” was seen, described as “deep and painful” by Amnesty International, who presented it as a support.
“It’s a very beautiful film, very colorful, bright with lush vegetation but it mixes with violence and becomes darker and darker,” said Catherine Mallet, director of La Cascade cinema.
The creators of the soundtrack were present at the cinema and explained how the film by director Zaven Najjar, illustrator and graphic designer, was partly produced at the Mont-Mars post-production studio in the heart of Provence Studios in Martigues.
The landscapes are based on photos and the film took years of preparation to reproduce the perspective of a child.
The film’s assistant director, Yukiko Meignien, and the participants point out that while the film’s creators worked a lot with digital technology, the images were not created by artificial intelligence.
Inspired by a novel of the same name
“Allah n’est pas obligé” is the title of the film that tells the story of Birahima, a boy living in Guinea. After his mother’s death, he must go to his guardian, his aunt who lives in Liberia, a country at war. And to save his life, he becomes a child soldier.
The director, who grew up in France but from a Lebanese family, read Ahmadou Kourouma’s book, published in 2000, and was inspired by it. The Ivorian novelist who received the Goncourt des lycéens prize, died in 2003.
We think of the millions of children living today in a war zone and the 250,000 children involved in an armed conflict. The director has met some of these young people, now adults, who have emerged from it with support and education.
The title “Allah n’est pas obligé,” which is the title of the book, the film, and the graphic novel released on March 13, 2026, acknowledges the inevitability of the tragedies of existence.
Ten screenings are scheduled at La Cascade cinema until April 14. The film is in the original version and in French.
