SCREENING & EVENT LINEUP
October 18th-24th, 2026

All events take place at Maysles Documentary Center unless otherwise indicated.
Tickets are available to purchase for a suggested donation at the cinema box office
starting 1 hour before showtime and online through advance ticketing links.

Tickets do not guarantee a seat in the main screening room;
it is recommended that ticket holders arrive early to secure their preferred seat.
For sold-out shows, there will be overflow seating offered on the lower level of MDC.

Sunday, October 18th
7:00PM

BUY TICKETS

Trop C’est Trop
(Enough is Enough)

Dir. Elisé Sawasawa, 2026, 65 min.
Swahili, Kinyarwanda, French w/ English subtitles

In January 2025, Goma, the capital of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, falls. It takes just four days for the M23 rebel movement to defeat the Congolese army and regional forces sent from neighboring countries—under the supervision of the UN’s largest peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO. For the international community, it is yet another conflict on the fringes of the news cycle. For the people of Goma, it is the culmination of more than 30 years of war.

Enough is Enough is told from the inside by filmmaker Elisé Sawasawa, who was born and raised in North Kivu. With his camera as a witness, he follows everyday life in a city on the brink of collapse. Some take up arms, others choose humanitarian work, poetry, dance, and music as their way of fighting. With rare access, the film documents a historical injustice that the world has long turned a blind eye to. Thirty years of war have driven millions to flee and cost even more lives. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH insists that we watch and familiarize ourselves with a conflict on the African continent that is also driven by global economic interests.

Preceded by:

Mulika
Dir. Maisha Maene, 2022, 14 min.

An “afronaut” emerges from the wreckage of a spaceship in the volcanic crater of Mount Nyiragongo. He descends into present-day Goma, encountering its inhabitants and gradually realizing what he must do to change the future for his people.

Post-screening discussion with guests TBA

Monday, October 19th
7:00PM

BUY TICKETS

Métisses: Cinq femmes contre un crime d’Etat
(Uprooted: Five Women Against a Colonial Crime)

Dir. Quentin Noirfalisse & Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo, 2025, 86 min.
French w/ English subtitles

After remaining silent their entire lives, five women approaching the age of 80 decide to denounce the crime against humanity they suffered. Léa, Noëlle, Monique, Simone, and Marie-José were born in Congo and are all from mixed heritage, born to black mothers and white fathers. When they were between 2 and 5 years old, the Belgian state took them away from their mothers as part of a systematic policy of racial segregation. This film follows the lawsuit they are bringing against the Belgian state for crimes against humanity and recounts, through animation, their childhood memories and trauma.

Tuesday, October 20th
7:00PM

BUY TICKETS

SHORTS PROGRAM

What We Said to Brussels Airlines

Dir. Collectif Faire-Part, 2026, 23 min.
English, French, Dutch w/ English subtitles

One hundred years after the first flight between Belgium and Congo, Brussels Airlines invites Collectif Faire-part to screen their films about anti-colonial resistance aboard its flights. There are many reasons to accept, and just as many to refuse. A conversation unfolds – about the airline’s role in forced deportations, about budget issues, about the risk of contributing to the laundering of their image – but also about the willingness of some insiders to confront the company’s colonial past, about the chance to address problematic policies and share a message with thousands of captive passengers.

Director’s Notes

Dir. Christian Nyampeta, 2026, 21 min.
English, French w/ English subtitles

Director’s Notes is a modular film inspired by Congolese-American writer and philosopher V. Y. Mudimbe’s Carnets d’Amérique, which recounts his first visit to the United States. Moving between New York, archival and online imagery, and contributions from collaborating artists, Christian Nyampeta reflects on migration, knowledge, belonging, and the experience of living as a foreigner, while imagining a larger fictional film about an African writer navigating contemporary America.

Sometimes It Was Beautiful

Dir. Christian Nyampeta, 2018, 38 min.
English, Swedish w/ English subtitles

An improbable group, including the likes of Robert Mugabe, Winnie Mandela, Andrei Tarkovsky, Rigoberta Menchú, Wole Soyinka, gathers to watch and critique films made by Swedish cinematographer Sven Nykvist in the Congo in the late 1940s and early ’50s. Through their conversations, choreography, and encounters with archival images, the film explores colonial representation, cultural ownership, and the enduring question of who has the right to tell Congo’s stories.

Post-screening discussion with the filmmakers + Reception

Wednesday, October 21st
7:00PM

BUY TICKETS

Joy Boy

Dir. Victoire Karera Kampire, Mawena Yehouessi, Fallon Mayanja, and Collectif Faire-part members Paul Shemisi, Rob Jacobs, Anne Reijniers, 2026, 64 min.
English

Joy Boy is a constellation of filmic, choreographic, and sonic expressions inspired by revolutionary musician and activist Julius Eastman’s life and work. His music — which he described as ‘organic’ — was known for its slow, cumulative structure, often bearing politically charged titles such as Evil N*****, Gay Guerrilla, or Joy Boy, marking both a radical compositional stance and an uncompromising political gesture. Unfolding through four chapters dedicated to four musical pieces, the film is threaded with a layered montage of Eastman’s voice - interludes that connect each part and echo his visionary presence.

Preceded by:

Taxi Moto
Dir. Gaël Kamilindi, 2026, 20 min.
French w/ English subtitles
A filmmaker sees the shooting of his film cancelled and begins looking for what remains of it, elsewhere, with another actor. What they explore together is no longer just a film, but a reflection on the stories that are silenced and the ones people take back for themselves. Through their conversations, the boundary between cinema and life dissolves, and the film becomes a space of intimate resistance, where thinking, desiring, and speaking become one and the same gesture.

Thursday, October 22nd
7:00PM

BUY TICKETS

Tantalum

Dir. Matthias De Groof, 2026, 17 min., French, English, and Dutch with English subtitles

A chunk of tantalum – better known as coltan, extracted from the mines of eastern Congo – begins an improbable journey that ends in outer space. Through a chain of absurd and circuitous detours, its path reveals unexpected ties to mythology, technology, and the enduring logics of colonization. Blending critique with satire, the story traces the journey of the material that powers our world.

Ndjimu | Deep Cobalt

Dir. Petna Ndaliko Katondolo, 2025, 31 min.
Kiswahili w/ English subtitles

In the depths of the Mutoshi mine in Katanga, Ndjimu follows a community of workers known as the “Rememberers” as they extract cobalt from their ancestral land under dangerous and brutal conditions. Immersing us in the darkness and claustrophobia of the mine, Petna Ndaliko Katondolo reflects on the human and environmental costs of the global demand for the minerals that power today's technologies.

Mikuba | Cobalt

Dir. Petna Ndaliko Katondolo, 2025, 63 min.
Kiswahili, French w/ English subtitles

In the cobalt mines of Kolwezi, Mikuba follows Mama Leance, a determined trader navigating a region dominated by multinational mining companies and the global demand for cobalt. Her journey brings her to Master Kangalele, guardian of an ancient copper-smelting practice, where she encounters a spiritual and cultural relationship to the land that offers a counterpoint to the forces of extraction.

Friday, October 23rd
7:00PM

BUY TICKETS

Rumba Royale

Dir. Yohane Dean Lengol & Hamad Mobasser, 2025, 97 min.
French w/ English subtitles

Set in Léopoldville in 1959, on the eve of Congolese independence, Rumba Royale follows Daniel, a young photographer who documents the city’s vibrant nightlife at a legendary rumba club. Inspired by the photographs of Jean Depara, whose images captured the clubs, musicians, and social life of 1950s Léopoldville, the film recreates a city where Congolese and European patrons mingle as political tensions mount. When Daniel’s girlfriend Olive is found dead, he becomes the prime suspect and must navigate a web of secrets while confronting the realities of colonial rule. Starring Congolese rumba star Fally Ipupa in his first leading film role, Rumba Royale also evokes the legacy of Papa Wemba, who starred in the landmark 1987 film La Vie est Belle, linking two generations of Congolese musicians who have brought rumba to the screen.

Saturday, October 24th
7:00PM

BUY TICKETS

Congo Boy

Dir. Rafiki Fariala, 2026, 91 min.
Sango, French, Lingala, Kiswahili w/ English subtitles

Set in Bangui, Central African Republic, Congo Boy follows 17-year-old Robert, a Congolese refugee who dreams of becoming a musician while navigating the demands of school, work, and caring for his four younger siblings. When his parents are imprisoned, Robert is forced to become the head of his family, all while trying to avoid the militias that control much of the city. A music competition offering a substantial prize gives him a possible way out, but pursuing his dream means balancing his responsibilities to his family with his determination to build a future of his own. Drawing on director Rafiki Fariala's own experience as a Congolese refugee in Bangui, the film explores displacement, family, and the liberating power of music against a backdrop of political instability.


Post-screening reception with Congolese food and live music by Nkumu Katalay