Cinema vérité hits the ghetto in this noir and hip-hop–fuelled snapshot of the Abidjan streets, directed by first-time filmmaker “Lonesome Solo,” a.k.a. Souleymane Bamba. A young street tough sells cigarettes in the nightlife district, but the lure of easier money soon drags him towards a more vibrant-and dangerous-thug life. Meanwhile, his sister dreams of a better future, but falls into prostitution, while his brother tries to live on the “right” side of the street as a police officer. Shot in eleven days and created collectively by its actors (many of whose lives are similar to their characters'), flavored by a raw combination of slam poetry and dance, Burn It Up Djassa merges the street-level, DIY aesthetics and energy of contemporary Nollywood with the particular realities of the Ivory Coast.