Meat Pusher

2019, Documentary, Social Issues, Human interest

Shilo is a meat courier. His job is to go to the slaughterhouse, pile great hunks of meat on his trolley and push them through the hectic city, running barefoot. It’s a harsh job with scarce income. But Shilo has a dream. He wants to become a professional marathon runner. Meat Pusher (original title Boyi-biyo) is IDFA 2020 award winning short documentary by Cental African director Anne Bertille Ndeysseit Vopiande.

Original title: Boyi-biyo
International title: Meat Pusher
Country: Central African Republic, France
Duration: 28 min
Language: Sango
Director: Anne Bertille Ndeysseit Vopiande
Production company: Les Ateliers Varan

Double lung – boyi biyo – they call him. Shilo is passionate about running and determined to achieve his dream, but the practical realities of daily life are against him. Allround poverty is crushing, daunting and withering whoever dares to dream. Shilo runs and runs. As a subordinate, and as a champion.

“To follow one’s dream or to abide by the realities and obligations of everyday life?

The director swiftly guides us through this universal question in a journey filled with twists and turns, revealing bits and pieces of this world with much care and attentiveness while staying true to a vision of life as it is: with its own joys and disappointments, cruelty and consolation.”