“Final Mission”: An action film by director Jonathan Soubeiga presented to moviegoers in Bobo-Dioulasso

The Bobo-Dioulasso culture house was stormed from December 27 to 29, 2024 by moviegoers, during the screening of the film “Final Mission” by director Jonathan Soubeiga. This film immerses us in the world of the mafia. An action film which deals with the life of a drug trafficker who will decide to stop his work as a trafficker. Anything that was not to the taste of his boss who felt that he was a “good pawn” for the network. He will use all means to force her to stay there, going as far as kidnapping her daughter.

He is forced to continue the mission, if he wishes to recover his daughter safe and sound. Unfortunately what he feared happened, he will be caught by the police in one of his missions. But long before, he had hired a group of young girls, specialized in assassinations and others, to get his daughter back. In the end, the girl will be recovered, but in a dramatic way. A film full of suspense and twists and turns that you absolutely must follow. For the director, this film was intended to raise awareness about the world of the mafia. “The mafia world is a world where if you get in, it’s hard to get out. There are no half measures in this world; we have everything to lose when we enter. So the ideal is not to enter it regardless of the situation we are going through, it is really not an option,” suggested Jonathan Soubeiga.

This film was carefully crafted with modest means for the enjoyment of moviegoers. For the director, the choice of an action film is not accidental. “We chose an action film because we saw that action films are not developed in Burkina Faso. Most of the time, these are emotional, comedy films. This is why we wanted to bring another touch, that is to say enter the world of action. And we tried this film with our available means because the conditions really weren’t right, there were a lot of problems that had to be resolved,” he underlined.

Before continuing: “This film was made in less than a week. We wanted to have real weapons unfortunately we didn’t get that. We didn’t want a lot of things but it was complicated given the context the country is going through. For the filming conditions, we had to make requests for locations to be able to film because the sets must be aligned with what we want to convey as a message.” According to him, all these difficulties were not without consequences on the quality of the film. Regardless, he says he is satisfied with the result presented to moviegoers. Furthermore, he takes note of the shortcomings noted in this film and promises to correct them in future projects.

Before Bobo-Dioulasso, this film was first presented to film fans in Ouagadougou through a week of screening at the Burkina cinema. “The film was successful in Ouagadougou because it was appreciated by many people. During the screening, many people came out to support us,” said Jonathan Soubeiga. In Bobo-Dioulasso, cinema lovers also did not want to hear about the film. Many of them came out to follow the film, a way for them to support African cinema, and particularly Burkinabe cinema.

The quality of the film praised by moviegoers

The quality of the film was strongly praised by cinema lovers, including Alimata Ouédraogo who praised the film for its true value. “It’s already a big step to move towards fiction because in general it’s not fiction films that we see. So he dared and I think it’s good to have tried. I tell myself that this can inspire other actors. Even if there are flaws, I am not a professional to be able to detect them. So I followed this film without regret, the actors played well so I have a good appreciation of the film,” she said.

Same story for Williams Garané for whom the film was “magnificently filmed”. However, he said he regretted the ending of the film. “I really liked this beautifully crafted film. Too much suspense, with a few special effects, all topped off with good acting, I really liked especially the message that the director wants to convey. For a start, there is nothing to say, but it is the end I regretted a little because it ended abruptly,” he stressed.

It should be remembered that the director is not in his first production. Indeed, Jonathan Soubeiga is a young director and producer from the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. “I first started with directing. Unfortunately, in Bobo-Dioulasso, I didn’t have anyone to produce my films. I wrote scripts, but finding a producer wasn’t easy. So I had to become a producer myself, have my own equipment, before starting to tour,” he said.

This is how he released his first film in January 2022 entitled “Bobo-zombie”. This film, he said, was successful in Bobo-Dioulasso and Ouagadougou. After this film, he was able to direct other films such as “Survivant 2.0”, “Doussou” which was selected at the Recis festival, “Lévirat” which had the support of quite a few financiers, “Kéliya” which is a feature film which was supported by the BBDA. “This film is still in post-production, but in February, I think we will present the film,” he announced.

After “Kéliya”, he began a series entitled “In the shadow of the city”, which tells a little about the experiences of the Burkinabè population in general and the Bobolais in particular. For this series, the director plans five seasons of 26 episodes per season. To date, Jonathan Soubeiga has made around ten films with his production house “Royale production”. With these different productions already, he believes he has worked a lot even if he thinks there is still a way to go. Passionate about the cinema profession, he says he learned the BA BA on the job. “I didn’t go to film school, I learned the profession on the job from those who came before me and I also carried out research to improve myself. Currently, I’m still learning and improving every time I do productions. We are working to enter the FEPACO range,” he suggested.

Being able to present a film at FESPACO is Mr. Soubeiga’s ambition. “My ambition is to be able to present a film at FESPACO one day because it is an essential festival for me as a young director. Now, as we haven’t gone to film school, we have to work to gain experience, to make products that deserve to be presented at FESPACO. Beyond that, we are targeting other international festivals,” he said.

Faced with the numerous difficulties encountered, he does not fail to send a message to the populations and particularly to the partners to support the cinema. “Cinema is not supported by partners even if some make efforts. Personally, I submitted around fifteen letters to support the release of my film and no partner reacted. It was the same with the film Bobo-zombie where I submitted requests to almost all the institutions and companies without follow-up. There were broken promises. From my beginnings until today, no partner has yet supported me in my filming,” he lamented. His heartfelt cry today is that partners can support him and also Burkinabe cinema in general.

Romuald Dauphin

Lefaso.net