Congo in Four Acts
Synopsis
A quartet of powerful, hard-hitting short films that lay bare the disturbing reality of everyday life in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ladies in Waiting
Director: Divita wa Lusala & Dieudo Hamadi
In a run-down maternity hospital, a ward of women who have recently had their babies wait to be allowed to leave. The problem? They cannot pay the hospital fees. A long-suffering manager must negotiate collateral with them so they will return and pay in full: a celebration dress, a pair of earrings, a suitcase. The film eloquently exposes both the squalid hospital system and the endemic poverty of Congo without, thankfully, pointing fingers, leaving that instead to the viewer.
Symphony Kinshasa
Director: Kiripi Katembo Siku
Take a hard-hitting tour through Congo's capital city and discover the consequences of graft, neglect and poverty, as Siku's film reveals Kinshasa'a imploding infrastructure. Malaria is rife, fresh water is as rare as flood water is common, electricity cables lie bare and live in the street, garbage is everywhere and as a priest notes "living in the capital is like living in a village. The services are the same, non-existent." It's not pretty but it's revelatory.
Zero Tolerance
Director: Dieudo Hamadi
Rape as a weapon of war has had much press, most notably in the recent Congo wars. Less discussed is the legacy it has left behind; a desensitised acceptance of the abuse of women at the hands of criminals, opportunists and most worryingly, ordinary men. Hamadi's short documentary film aims to get right to heart of the matter by following the Head of the Sexual Violence Unit, in Bukavu, Eastern DRC, she arrests two teenage brothers who rape a women returning from the shops and a man who rapes a women because he thinks she is a witch. Hamadi's focus is on an Eastern DRC town where political correctness holds no sway, and in so doing he attempts to show both the depth of the problem and the attempts by authorities to reset the national moral code. The film's unexpected triumph is its honesty -- both in the depiction of poverty and the community's burgeoning anger at the endemic abuse.
After the Mine
Director: Kiripi Katembo Siku
Kipushi is a mining town, one of thousands keeping Congo's elite in extreme wealth. But for those who live in the shadow of its toxic fallout, it is a very different life, one where tainted water and contaminated soil are realities. Siku's film tells the very personal stories of those trapped in such a deadly environment.
Shorts
Ladies in Waiting
Director: Divita wa Lusala & Dieudo Hamadi
Symphony Kinshasa
Director: Kiripi Katembo Siku
Zero Tolerance
Director: Dieudo Hamadi
After the Mine
Director: Kiripi Katembo Siku
Festivals
World premiere – Berlinale 2010
Officially selected for IDFA – International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam, 2010
Officially selected for Hot Docs – 2010
Officially selected for African Film Festival of Milan 2010
Officially selected for Africa in Motion Film Festival 2010 International Festival Signes de Nuit, France, 2010
Hot Docs, Canada, 2010
Rwanda Film Festival, 2010 Open Doek Film Festival, Belgium, 2010
DOK.FEST, Germany, 2010 Norweigan Short Film Festival, Norway, 2010
Zanzibar International Film Festival, 2010
Bala Bala Cine, Democartic Republic of Congo, 2010
Durban International Film Festival, South Africa, 2010
Encounters Documnetary Festival, South Africa, 2010
Fair – Forum for African Investivitive Reporters, Zimbabwe International Film Festival, 2010
My World Images Festival, Denmark, 2010
FIFAI, Reunion Island, 2010 DocLisboa , Portugal, 2010
Kenya International Film Festival, 2010
Carthage Film Festival, Tunisia, 2010
Amakula Kampala International Film Festival, Uganda, Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, Czech Republic, Africa in Motion Film Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2010
Ethiopian International Film Festival, 2010
Senegal Festival du Film de Dakar, 2010
The Village Doc Festival Milan, Italy, 2010
Watch Docs, Poland, 2010
Benin Quintessance 2011
Doc Point, Helsinki, Finland, 2011
FIPA (sub fesival of Cannes) Biarritz, France 2011 Black Movie Film Festival, Geneva, Switzerland, 2011
FESPACO, Burkina Faso, 2011(26 FEB -5 MAR ‘11) Bradford International Film Festival, UK, 2011
Fribourg International Film Festival, Switzerland, 2011
Ljubjana Documentary Film Festival, Slovenia, 2011
Planete Doc Film Festival, Warsaw, Poland, 2011
Festival de Cine Africano de Tarifa, Tangers, 2011
Dockanema Documenatry Film Festival, Maputo, Mozambique, 2011
Tri Continents Film Festival, 2011
One World Kyrgyzstan International Film Festival, 2011
Namur International Festival of Francophone, Belgium, 2011
Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Festival, Germany, Ânûû- rû Âboro Film Festival, New Caledonia, South Pacific, 2011 Â) International Short Film Festival Winterthur, Switzerland, 2011
Women of the Sun Unite Film Festival, South Africa, 2011 Manya Human Rights International Film Festival, Uganda, 2011
The African Movie Festival of Cordoba – FCAT, Spain, 2011 Africa Hoje Film Festival, Brazil, 2012
Awards
Jury Award - Vienna International Human World Film Festival 2010
The Pierre And Yolande Perrault Grant at Cinema Du Reel (“Ladies In Waiting”)
Prize Winner - Fica, Ivory Coast 2010
Best Short Documentary - Africa Movie Academy Awards 2011 (“After The Mine”)
The Grand Prix - One World Kyrgyzstan International Film Festival 2011
Currently not for distribution in South Africa