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English Titles J

Johnny Mad Dog

Original title: Johnny Mad Dog
German title: Johnny Mad Dog
France, Belgium, 2008

Director: Sauvaire, Jean-Stéphane
Production company: MNP Entreprise
Age recommendation: 16 years and up

Synopsis:
Today, in contemporary Africa.

Johnny, 15, a kid-soldier armed to the hilt, is inhabited by the mad dog he dreams of becoming.

With his small commando – No Good Advice, Small Devil, Young Major – he robs, pillages, and slays everything in his path.

Laokolé, 16, pushing her disabled facther around in a rickety wheelbarrow, attempting to invent the glorious future which her brilliant studies seem to have in store for her, strives to flee her city occupied by teenage-soldier militias, with her little brother Fofo, 8.

As Johnny advances, Laokolé flees . . .

Under the windows of embassies, NGOs, the High Commissionership for Refugees, teenagers fed by Hollywood imagery and disinformation play at war. The militias fight enemies dubbed “Patriots”; the “Dogo-Mayis” want to exterminate the “Mayi-Dogos”; the adolescent warlords call themselves “Giap” or “Rambo” and kill each other over a TV set, a basket of fruit, or a misplaced word.

Childhoods cut short, an Africa ravaged by absurd wars, a people who are trying, in spite of it all, to survive and to save their humanity.

Festivals:
Cannes 2008 (Un Certain Regard), Giffoni 2009

World sales address/es:
TFI Studio (F)

Sold to:
TFM Distribution (F)