The highly anticipated film adaptation of Ivory Coast-born/France-based author Marguerite Abouet’s popular graphic novel series, Aya de Yopougon (Aya of Yop City) will open in France on July 24.

Abouet’s Aya de Yopougon series, which is illustrated by her husband, Clement Oubrerie, is a global phenomenon that has been translated into numerous languages around the world.  The film’s premise is as follows:

“Welcome to Yopougon, a working-class neighborhood of Abidjan
in the late 70s, renamed Yop City – to sound like an American movie!
This is home to Aya and her two friends, Adjoua and Bintou. The’re
19-years-old, a time in your life when everything seems possible. But
while Aya would like to become a doctor one day, her friends are more
into nightclubbing at the local “maquis” and hunting for a husband.
Around this dynamic trio, we cross characters with diverse destinies
like Ignace, Aya’s runaround father who juggles several “offices”, and
Moussa, the son of the powerful Bonaventure Sissoko who counts on his
Toyota to pick up girls. There’s also Fanta and Koro, the mothers who
try to protect their daughters. Or Grégoire, the “Parisian” who blows
his cash at the famous hotel Ivoire.
A true chorale comedy, Aya of Yop City is a chronicle of an unexpected Africa, modern and urban.”

So far, the only voice-talent I’ve been able to verify as being attached to the project, to be released by UGC Distribution, is Senegalese star Aissa Maiga.  Needless to say, her involvement alone is enough to make this a must-see for me.

There’s no word on whether we’ll get a release here in the U.S., but Aya de Yopougon is definitely one to look out for if it comes to your city or gets a DVD release.