Kino Lorber has picked up North American rights to Boris Lojkine’s Souleymane’s Story, a French drama about a bicycle deliveryman and asylum seeker in Paris, that won the jury prize at Cannes Un Certain Regard last year.

Non-professional Abou Sangare, who plays the titular lead character, Souleymane, won the Un Certain Regard best actor honor and has been universally praised for his performance, winning best acting honors at the European Film Awards and France’s Césars.

The film plays like a ticking-clock thriller as Souleymane, a Guinean immigrant, races through the streets of Paris, making food deliveries on his bicycle, struggling to stay afloat. In two days, he has to report for an asylum application interview, which will determine whether he will receive the coveted carte de séjour, which would allow him to live and work legally in France. The “story” of the film’s title refers to...