Rosine Mbakam’s Delphine’s Prayers is a stunning documentary with a rigorous and formal simplicity that is enthralling. Over the course of 90 minutes, Mbakam interviews her friend Delphine in a side room in the woman’s home as she sits in bed, convalescing from an illness. Throughout these interviews, Delphine tells the story of her life in Cameroon and what led her into prostitution – her attempts to care for her family and especially her sick niece, the attempts by men in her life to exploit her from a young age, her own rape by a young man in her neighborhood, and her father’s refusal to believe her. She discusses how she was eventually able to leave Cameroon and emigrate to Belgium, how she’s treated back home now that she lives in Europe, as well as the challenges of marriage to a man she doesn’t love. Mbakam allows Delphine to be a co-creator in this film about her life, – Delphine directs Rosine and tells her where to sit in order to make the interviewee feel more at ease, she only participates in the storytelling when she feels comfortable, and she only shares what she chooses with the camera. This creates a sense of ease between the two women and allows for more intimacy and immediacy in the storytelling. And at the end of the film, Mbakam shares her own experiences, revealing her own biases and the ways she would have looked down on Delphine had they met in Cameroon, but as two immigrants who face discrimination and racism in white spaces, who are only seen for the color of their skin, their lives have become intertwined in a way they never would have otherwise. This is an exceptional work of non-fiction filmmaking, an incredible act of empathy and connection.