THE ROSES OF AGBOGBLOSHIE

Feature Film | 90 minutes | Karolina Markiewicz

On the outskirts of Accra, Ghana, the carcasses of computers and televisions are piled up, burning, suffocating the sky with toxic fumes. In this chaos of Agbogbloshie, a fragile community survives thanks to solidarity and dreams. Among them, fourteen-year-old Kofi, a budding philosopher, takes care of his little sister Ama and, despite the illness, keeps a glimmer of hope. At her side, their mother Abena, researcher Catherine and humanitarian Padre Angelo try to protect the children and document their fate.

Thousands of kilometres away, in Luxembourg, seventeen-year-old Maja sinks into silent mourning. Her mother, a humanitarian, had died a year earlier. She lives with Nigel, her father, a music journalist, locked in his rituals and unable to respond to his daughter’s anger. Between them, a gap widened. Until the day Maja discovers a forgotten medical file: photos, numbers, letters talking about Agbogbloshie, and especially Kofi’s face. Fascinated and overwhelmed, she began to write to him.

Through an old computer, Kofi and Maja meet. Their hesitant words become deep confidences. She tells him about her lost mother, talks to him about her fear of dying. Together, they discover that beyond distance, there is a common truth: fragile life is also resistance.

But Kofi’s body is weakening. Despite the support of his family, he feels the end is approaching. Shortly before his death, he whispers a promise to Maja: “The roses will… grow. His departure has upset the entire community. Ama, her little sister, clings to this dream: to transform mountains of waste into a field of roses, a symbol of beauty and dignity.

Maja goes to Accra. Confronted with the death of her friend, she collapses and then gets back up. Alongside Ama, Nigel — finally back to her — and Catherine who hides her illness herself, she decides to honor Kofi’s promise. Together, they created the Kofi Roses Recycling Centre, a place where children learn to recycle differently, to invent, to dream.

Between Luxembourg and Ghana, voices are crossed. Nigel records a report, the children talk on the radio, Bowie’s songs mingle with Ghanaian songs. And on the screen of an old computer, Kofi’s smile reappears. His voice still resonates: “The roses will… grow”.

A film about transmission, friendship and the fragile power of dreams, even in the heart of the black smoke.