Sissako’s Octobre has nothing to do with the Russian Revolution, but it is set in Russia. Ira, a young Russian woman, worriedly roams the streets of Moscow. She is pregnant and has to say goodbye to her boyfriend, an African student about to return to his homeland. Somewhere on the outskirts of Moscow, in a sombre apartment, they spend their last night together. Sissako’s stay at the Moscow film school, where many African students mixed with future film makers from Russia and elsewhere, probably inspired him to this stylishly designed topical narration about a multi-racial Romeo and Juliet.
