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DIA POPO

Fiction

Director
Assi OHOUOT
Ivory Coast

Assi OHOUOT Côte d’Ivoire Ateliers de grand-bassam 2025

Synopsis

Dia Popo, a former elite soldier unjustly discharged for remaining silent about an alleged coup plot, struggles to survive in the working-class district of Abobo with his pregnant partner and orphaned nephew. One morning, a mysterious man offers him a new identity and a job as a security guard at the West African Central Bank (BCEAO).

After heroically thwarting a robbery attempt, Dia quickly rises to become head of security. But his ascent was orchestrated: he was planted to enable the most audacious bank heist in the region’s history. Dia escapes with 2 billion CFA francs, embarking on a desperate flight across West Africa, disguised as a woman. Arrested in Ouagadougou, he is extradited, tried, and imprisoned in Abidjan. The entire country follows his high-profile trial. Three months later, the unthinkable happens. Dia vanishes from his cell without a trace. His family disappears too.
The stolen billions are never found.

Intention Note

My desire to bring the story of Dia Popo POPO to the screen stems from a deep fascination with what remains the most daring bank robbery in the history of the West African Central Bank. Beyond the official reports and fragmented media narratives, I see a profoundly human story that reveals the social, political, and moral tensions of contemporary Africa. This extraordinary case, which shook an entire region, continues to fuel speculation, legends, and unanswered questions. The disappearance of the money and the enigmatic vanishing of the main suspect provides a narrative of rare depth, which I intend to explore with nuance and complexity.

The film’s visual language will rely on stark contrasts: the vibrant warmth of Abobo’s working-class neighborhoods, captured with handheld camera, opposed to the cold rigidity of institutional interiors filmed in static, symmetrical frames. Military flashbacks will offer insight into the protagonist’s psyche. The film’s pacing will evolve slow and introspective at first, then increasingly tense and breathless, climaxing in a tightly choreographed heist sequence.

This film is a descent into the inner fractures of a man, a mirror of the broken systems that shape him.

Ateliers de Grand-Bassam
Ateliers de Grand-Bassam
Ateliers de Granda-Bassam

About us

Les Ateliers de Grand-Bassam is brought to life by Grand-Bassam Project, a non-profit association that embodies excellence in the film and audiovisual industry. The association is an organization of filmmakers, producers and cultural industry professionals from Ivory Coast, the continent and beyond, who help incubate performing arts and audiovisual projects by applying alternative methods of management, production, marketing and distribution in countries across the continent.

Grand-Bassam Project’s main objective is to contribute to the emergence of a solid, internationally competitive African cultural industry, notably through the development of the performing arts and audiovisual sector, capable of contributing to improving the economic impact of culture and consolidating the employability of young people.

Specifically, the objectives of the Grand-Bassam Project are to :

– Implement and consolidate an incubator for cultural projects and professional training workshops for artists and producers from Ivory Coast and other countries on the continent.

– Contribute to the reappropriation by Ivorian cultural players of the conception and governance of cultural policies, in partnership with public decision-makers at national level.

– Contribute to the dissemination of cinematographic works from the continent Formalize and implement a strategy for the implementation of activities, a risk management plan, as well as a monitoring and evaluation plan for all actions.

– Produce and/or co-produce performing arts and audiovisual works and projects for dissemination on the continent and internationally.

– Intensify artistic education initiatives aimed at children, young people and the general public.

Grand-Bassam Project is in the process of launching its program of activities, which include training, production, distribution, image education and consulting for the first edition of the Ateliers de Grand-Bassam. In keeping with its management strategy, the company’s aim is to combine production activities with socio-educational initiatives.

By working closely with sister organizations in Ivory Coast who share the same passion, Grand-Bassam Project will contribute to the future of cinema in Côte d’Ivoire and beyond.

The association capitalizes on the experience acquired over the last ten years by the Ouaga Film Lab, and projects will be carried out with the expertise required to increase the competitiveness of Ivorian and African filmmakers on the world stage.