Ivorian feature film Ébinto, adapted from Amadou Koné’s novel Les Frasques d’Ébinto, will hold its international premiere at Paris’s Grand Rex on Thursday, 29 October 2026, at 18:00, with members of the production team expected to attend. The screening follows the film’s domestic release in Côte d’Ivoire on 15 October and marks the start of its planned outreach to African diaspora audiences.
Directed by Luc Gnepa and written by Gauz, the 115-minute drama is set in Côte d’Ivoire in the 1970s. It follows Ébinto, a young man whose impulsive decisions and relationships with two young women lead to tragic consequences. Ephraim Oka plays the title character, alongside Armande Lo as Monique and Maud Guerard as Murielle.
Charly Kodjo produces the film through Instant2vie Studio, in co-production with Ivorian broadcaster Nouvelle Chaîne Ivoirienne (NCI). Gnepa has said his experience of first love informed his approach to the story, while 1970s cinema provided a visual reference for recreating the period. Locations include the Aby lagoon and the historic coastal town of Grand-Bassam.
One notable feature of the production is its financing and local participation. The filmmakers say 90% of the production budget was raised in Côte d’Ivoire. The shoot involved more than 100 technicians and over 1,000 extras, demonstrating the scale of local personnel and resources mobilised for the feature.
The planned rollout extends beyond the initial release in Abidjan. The production aims to organise screenings in more than 30 towns across Côte d’Ivoire, alongside presentations in other African cities and diaspora centres. The Paris premiere follows an earlier teaser presentation in the French capital during the summer, attended by Côte d’Ivoire’s ambassador to France.
For the Ivorian film industry, Ébinto illustrates a distribution strategy that connects domestic theatrical exposure with international community screenings. Paris provides a prominent platform for reaching francophone African audiences abroad, while planned screenings across Ivorian towns could help extend the film’s reach beyond the country’s largest commercial centre.
The approach also highlights the importance of locally mobilised financing and partnerships between independent production companies and broadcasters. However, no international distribution company has been identified for the film’s wider overseas rollout, leaving the scale and structure of its future theatrical and digital availability unclear.
The Paris screening is therefore an early step in the film’s international journey rather than evidence of a confirmed global distribution deal. Its next challenge will be converting local audience interest and diaspora engagement into sustained circulation across additional territories.
