SCHEDULE
Congo in Harlem is a diverse showcase of films from and about the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is the flagship event of CONGO WEEK, launched by Friends of the Congo. Under normal circumstances, our series is intimate and in-person, but this year we have migrated our program online.
All films and events are FREE and open to the public. Links will be active starting on October 16th. Most films and events will be available for the duration of the series, but be sure to check the program listings for specific details.
We will continue to add to the line-up, so please keep checking back!
VIRTUAL CONCERT AND CLOSING CELEBRATION:
Congo Week and Congo in Harlem culminate in a virtual online concert to celebrate the successful culmination of Congo Week 2020!
The concert will feature artists from around the world, showcasing Congolese music in all its diversity, with some surprise guest appearances. Current line-up includes: Nkumu Katalay, Rafiya, Deja Belle, Kiku Experience, Mr. Lumemo, Lumino, Marsahl Dixon, Guy & Nicole Nkele, Ange Kayaya, and African Boy Tswe. Find the full program HERE.
This event will premier simultaneously on social media platforms. Stay tuned for more info.
Co-Presented by Friends of the Congo, Africans Rising, Congo Square - The Show, Congo Love, Kin Kultur, and Tabilulu Productions.
1 DAY ONLY!
Saturday, October 31st, 12PM EST
MAIN SLATE FEATURES:
*SIDEWALK CINEMA*
SYSTEM K
Dir. Renaud Barret
1 DAY ONLY!
Saturday, October 17th, 7:30PM
Location: Maysles Documentary Center
343 Malcolm X Blvd (between 127th & 128th St), New York, NY 10027
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SYSTEM K
Dir. Renaud Barret
Documentary, 2019, 94 Min.
Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a vast, chaotic mega-city of 12 million. Water is privatized and the electric grid is capricious. Here, street artists’ performances are wildly creative, angry, irreverent, often shocking. With names like Kongo Astronauts, Strombo, and Kill Bill, they masterfully repurpose urban detritus (computer parts, TV sets, bullet shells, machetes) and work with fire and paint, wax and blood — to critique government corruption, Western exploitation, and entrenched poverty. SYSTEM K reveals a vibrant, raw, politically astute world of performance art the likes of which exist nowhere else on earth.
CONGO: WHITE KING, RED RUBBER, BLACK DEATH
Dir. Peter Bate
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CONGO: WHITE KING, RED RUBBER, BLACK DEATH
Dir. Peter Bate
Documentary, 2003, 90 Min.
CONGO: WHITE KING, RED RUBBER, BLACK DEATH offers a shocking account of Belgian colonial rule, detailing the brutal, gulag-like conditions that King Leopold II imposed on the Congolese people to harvest the country’s abundant supply of rubber. The Belgian government has denounced this film as a “tendentious diatribe” for depicting King Leopold II as the moral forebear of Adolf Hitler, responsible for the death of 10 million people -- but the transgressions are undeniable, and their documentation launched the modern Human Rights movement. Nearly 30 years after its initial release, Peter Bate’s film endures as one of the most informative and moving chronicles of Congo under colonial rule.
PALIMPSEST OF THE AFRICA MUSEUM
Dir. Matthias De Groof
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PALIMPSEST OF THE AFRICA MUSEUM
Matthias De Groof
Documentary, 2019, 69 Min.
In 1897, King Léopold II created the Royal Museum for Central Africa to showcase artifacts and natural specimens pillaged from Congo Free State. In 1910, the collection was moved into a lavish, iconic neoclassical palace, cementing the museum as a symbol of Western arrogance. Now, more than a century later, the building and spirit are in need of renewal, and the museum closes its doors for renovation. As the last visitors file out, filmmaker Matthias De Groof takes up his camera to bear witness to the dismantling of colonial dioramas and internal conversations that will determine the future of the museum. In charting a new path forward, museum staff and delegates from African organizations convene to ponder the project's most basic questions – Who is the museum for? And what is the story being told?
*SPECIAL SNEAK PREVIEW*
DOWNSTREAM TO KINSHASA
Dir. Dieudo Hamadi
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DOWNSTREAM TO KINSHASA
Dir. Dieudo Hamadi
Documentary, 2020, 88 Min.
In early June 2000, during the wake of the Rwandan genocide and the Second Congo War, a brutal conflict erupted between Rwandan and Ugandan forces in Kisangani. The armies pummelled the city with heavy weapons, killing over 6,000 Congolese, injuring many thousands more, and laying waste to hundreds of millions of dollars in property. The conflict was so devastating it earned its own distinction as the “Six-Day War”. Although this episode has largely been forgotten, its imprint remains on the bodies and lives of the residents of Kisangani, who for years have been fighting for recognition and compensation. Tired of unsuccessful pleas, a group of survivors takes matters into their own hands. Filmmaker Dieudo Hamadi, documents their 1000+ mile journey down the Congo River to the capital city of Kinshasa where they intend to voice their claims.
*SPECIAL SNEAK PREVIEW*
CONGO CALLING
Dir. Stephan Hilpert
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CONGO CALLING
Dir. Stephan Hilpert
Documentary, 2019, 90 Min.
In Goma, eastern Congo, three European development aid workers are forced to question what it means to help. Raúl, a French-Spanish economist doing research on rebel groups, realizes that he is leading his Congolese colleagues into great temptation with his project funds, putting their study at risk of failing. After 30 years in Africa, Peter, from Germany, reaches retirement age and is unable to renew his job contract. He struggles to stay in Congo and to preserve his identity as an aid worker. And the relationship of Anne-Laure, from Belgium, is put to the test when her Congolese partner, Fred Bauma of the La Lucha youth movement, becomes a high-profile regime critic. CONGO CALLING reveals deeply personal and complex insights into the coexistence and cooperation between Europe and Africa – and raises the question: how helpful is the help of the West?
*ADVANCE SCREENING - 4 DAYS ONLY
STOP FILMING US
Dir. Joris Postema
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STOP FILMING US
Dir. Joris Postema
Documentary, 2020, 95 Min.
Can a Western filmmaker show anything of truth about the Democratic Republic of Congo? Or do Western 'good intentions' only cause destruction and frustration? In meeting three young artists from Goma who oppose the one-sided Western imagery, filmmaker Joris Postema takes these questions head-on, and attempts to unpack the mutual preconceptions that form the barrier between “them” and “us”.
SHORTS PROGRAM 1: CONGO NOW
PORTRAIT OF GOMA
Dir. Christian Bitwaiki
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PORTRAIT OF GOMA
Dir. Christian Bitwaiki
Documentary, 2020, 4 min.
A raw account of Goma’s once bustling city streets and social hubs, now deserted at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
UP AT NIGHT
Dir. Nelson Makengo
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UP AT NIGHT
Dir. Nelson Makengo
Documentary, 2019, 21 Min.
Using three juxtaposed screens, filmmaker Nelson Makengo inserts viewers into Kinshasa on the night of a “load shedding” power cut. As the city’s inhabitants voice their challenges and demonstrate their own creative solutions, the sounds of a generator give way to a radio bulletin about the Inga hydroelectric dam, and former president Joseph Kabila speaks about his record.
LETTERS FROM CONGO
Dir. Studios Kabako with Didier Ediho, Jeannot Kumbonyeki, Collectif D’Art D’Art, and Dorine Mokha
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LETTERS FROM CONGO
Dir. Faustin Linyekula & Virginie Dupray
Documentary, 2020, 24 min.
LETTERS FROM CONGO is an anthology of four video diaries made by Congolese artists living in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi during the COVID-19 pandemic. From the places where they live and make art, the artists share their daily lives and drive to create during a difficult period of isolation.
À DEMAIN?
Dir. Faustin Linyekula
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A DEMAIN?
Dir. Faustin Linyekula
Narrative, 2019, 13 min.
A neglected child hustles the streets of Kisangani and witnesses an altercation that gives him insight about his absent father.
SHORTS PROGRAM 2: COLONIALISM REFRAMED
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN
Dir. Baloji
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NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN
Dir. Baloji
Experimental, 2020, 5 Min.
Using his trademark assemblage of esoteric costume and visual metaphors, Congolese-Belgian hitmaker and filmmaker Baloji explores the practice of skin lightening in black communities. Euphemistically described as ‘brightening’ or ‘toning’, skin bleaching takes many innocuous forms—such as creams, buffs and soaps—to deal with hyperpigmentation, but is more often used by women to emulate Eurocentric beauty standards.
BAYINDO
Dir. Paul Shemisi
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BAYINDO
Dir. Paul Shemisi
Documentary, 2020, 10 Min.
Filmmaker Paul Shemisi offers a rare, observational portrait of “Kintuandi Tuka Kongo,” a Kinshasa-based animist community that attempts to restore the customs and ancestral faiths destroyed by Western missionaries and colonizers.
REGARD
Dir. Maisha Maene
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REGARD
Dir. Maisha Maene
Experimental, 2019, 4 Min.
Drawing on illustration, dance, and photography, filmmaker Maisha Maene deconstructs the process of image-making and recomposes the colonial gaze.
SECRET SCREENING
Dir. Anonymous
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SECRET SCREENING
Dir. Anonymous
Experimental, 2020, 9 Min.
A Belgian art film documenting Congolese masks and sculpture gets a re-edit -- now, instead of being spoken about, the objects speak back, voicing Aimé Césare’s seminal 1950 essay “Discourse on Colonialism.”
MACHINI
Dir. Tétshim & Frank Mukunday
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MACHINI
Dir. Tetshim & Frank Mukunday
Animation, 2019, 10 Min.
Self-taught Congolese artists Tétshim and Frank Mukunday use chalk drawings, stones and repurposed materials to depict the destructive and polluting influence of mining on urban Congo.
SHORTS PROGRAM 3: CONGO FORWARD
BUGS
Dir. David Shongo
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BUGS
Dir. David Shongo
Experimental, 2019, 7 Min.
Taking climate change, exploitation, and Western upheaval of Congolese society as his starting point, filmmaker David Shongo builds on the photographic archives of Hans Himmelheber (1938-39) and hunting songs of Léon Verbeek to question the primacy of technology and globalization.
CORE DUMP: SHENZHEN
Dir. Francois Knoetze
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CORE DUMP: SHENZHEN
Dir. Francois Knoetze
Experimental, 2018, 12 Min.
In 2012, images of the mermaid-like Congolese water spirit Mami Wata began to circulate rapidly in China, sparking rumors that Chinese laborers had captured her while installing underwater fiber-optic cables in the Congo River. CORE DUMP: SHENZHEN imagines a scenario where Mami Wata is transplanted into a gadget factory in China’s first free-market Special Economic Zone, revealing the depth and complexity of contemporary Sino-African relations.
A “core dump” is the recorded state of the working memory of a computer at a specific moment in time. If a crash occurs, the computer is able to recall this ‘imprint’ of its previous state as a means to debug and recover. This oddly poetic ‘memory’ of a computer forms the basis for Francois Knoetze’s CORE DUMP, a four-part sculptural and video series filmed in Dakar, Kinshasa, Shenzhen and New York that extends the metaphor of a crash to the impending breakdown and unsustainability of the global capitalist techno-scientific system.
CORE DUMP: DAKAR
Dir. Francois Knoetze
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CORE DUMP: DAKAR
Dir. Francois Knoetze
Experimental, 2018, 12 Min.
In a TV repair shop, electronic waste is fused with the shop-owner’s body to form a cyborg that can re-embody historical data and hack online systems in pursuit of a utopian future. The film culminates at the Centre International du Commerce Extérieur with a re-enactment of a speech delivered by Leopold Sédar Senghor at the 1975 Non-Aligned Movement Conference.
A “core dump” is the recorded state of the working memory of a computer at a specific moment in time. If a crash occurs, the computer is able to recall this ‘imprint’ of its previous state as a means to debug and recover. This oddly poetic ‘memory’ of a computer forms the basis for Francois Knoetze’s CORE DUMP, a four-part sculptural and video series filmed in Dakar, Kinshasa, Shenzhen and New York that extends the metaphor of a crash to the impending breakdown and unsustainability of the global capitalist techno-scientific system.
CORE DUMP: NEW YORK
Dir. Francois Knoetze
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CORE DUMP: NEW YORK
Dir. Francois Knoetze
Experimental, 2019, 12 Min.
Taking Boston Dynamics’ iconic ‘Big Dog’ robot as a starting point, CORE DUMP: NEW YORK, contests the West as a site of freedom and progress. After escaping the lab, Big Dog is severed in two by the doors of a subway train, setting the scene for a parallel journey through New York City. Its journey ends when one half is dumped back in Dakar among a shipment of electronic waste, bringing the series full-circle as the two sides face each other from opposite shores of the Atlantic.
A “core dump” is the recorded state of the working memory of a computer at a specific moment in time. If a crash occurs, the computer is able to recall this ‘imprint’ of its previous state as a means to debug and recover. This oddly poetic ‘memory’ of a computer forms the basis for Francois Knoetze’s CORE DUMP, a four-part sculptural and video series filmed in Dakar, Kinshasa, Shenzhen and New York that extends the metaphor of a crash to the impending breakdown and unsustainability of the global capitalist techno-scientific system.
CORE DUMP: KINSHASA
Dir. Francois Knoetze
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CORE DUMP: KINSHASA
Dir. Francois Knoetze
Experimental, 2018, 10 Min.
Inspired by the writing of Joseph Tonda, CORE DUMP: KINSHASA situates popular Congolese mythology in the contemporary digital imagination. The film unfolds as an Afro-dystopian-sci-fi-horror that investigates the West’s notions of techno-utopias and the former colonies that are mined and dumped on to create these shimmering oases.
A “core dump” is the recorded state of the working memory of a computer at a specific moment in time. If a crash occurs, the computer is able to recall this ‘imprint’ of its previous state as a means to debug and recover. This oddly poetic ‘memory’ of a computer forms the basis for Francois Knoetze’s CORE DUMP, a four-part sculptural and video series filmed in Dakar, Kinshasa, Shenzhen and New York that extends the metaphor of a crash to the impending breakdown and unsustainability of the global capitalist techno-scientific system.
PERFORMANCES AND CULTURAL EVENTS
DRUM CALL
Nkumu Katalay
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NKUMU KATALAY
Born in Kinshasa, the capital of DR Congo, and now living in New York City, Nkumu Katalay and his music represent the blending of two worlds. For the past two decades, Isaac has worked as an ensemble musician, choreographer, dancer, and speaker. His style is a distinctive blend of contemporary and traditional Congolese dance moves and aesthetics, which he calls "CONTEMPTRA" (Contemporary-Traditional). Isaac is also founder of the Life Long Project which promotes Congolese music and culture in the U.S.
MAKAYABU NA FUMBWA (Cooking Class)
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MAKAYABU NA FUMBWA (Cooking Instructional Video)
Chef Barbara Lagazzele demonstrates the preparation of the classic Congolese dish Makayabu Na Fumbwa (salt fish with wild spinach). Find the full recipe HERE.
For ingredients and more information about Congolese cooking, please visit BANTU TASTES
CLEAR MY PATH
Nkumu Katalay
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NKUMU KATALAY
Born in Kinshasa, the capital of DR Congo, and now living in New York City, Nkumu Katalay and his music represent the blending of two worlds. For the past two decades, Isaac has worked as an ensemble musician, choreographer, dancer, and speaker. His style is a distinctive blend of contemporary and traditional Congolese dance moves and aesthetics, which he calls "CONTEMPTRA" (Contemporary-Traditional). Isaac is also founder of the Life Long Project which promotes Congolese music and culture in the U.S.
HELENA MAMA
Nkumu Katalay
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NKUMU KATALAY
Born in Kinshasa, the capital of DR Congo, and now living in New York City, Nkumu Katalay and his music represent the blending of two worlds. For the past two decades, Isaac has worked as an ensemble musician, choreographer, dancer, and speaker. His style is a distinctive blend of contemporary and traditional Congolese dance moves and aesthetics, which he calls "CONTEMPTRA" (Contemporary-Traditional). Isaac is also founder of the Life Long Project which promotes Congolese music and culture in the U.S.
KASALA: THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE OF DREAMS OR THE FIRST HUMAN, BENDE’S ERROR
Dir. Sammy Baloji
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KASALA: THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE OF DREAMS OR THE FIRST HUMAN, BENDE'S ERROR
Dir. Sammy Baloji
Performance/Experimental, 2020, 32 Min.
What happens to objects from Africa that are kept in museums in the northern hemisphere? How legitimate is it to reveal their inner life, uprooted from cultural context? Can the objects find their voice again? Are there other forms of memory? Multi-disciplinary artist Sammy Baloji explores these questions, taking the “Kasala”, a form of ceremonial poem, as his starting point. Performed by Fiston Mwanza Mujia (poetry), Patrick Dunst (music), and Grilli Pollheimer (music).
Co-presented by AXIS GALLERY
BOMENGO
Nkumu Katalay
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NKUMU KATALAY
Born in Kinshasa, the capital of DR Congo, and now living in New York City, Nkumu Katalay and his music represent the blending of two worlds. For the past two decades, Isaac has worked as an ensemble musician, choreographer, dancer, and speaker. His style is a distinctive blend of contemporary and traditional Congolese dance moves and aesthetics, which he calls "CONTEMPTRA" (Contemporary-Traditional). Isaac is also founder of the Life Long Project which promotes Congolese music and culture in the U.S.
PANEL DISCUSSION
THE IMPACT OF BELGIAN COLONIZATION ON THE CONGO
Panelists:
Adam Hochschild, Historian, Journalist and Author of King Leopold's Ghost
Princess Esmeralda, Member of Belgian Royal Family
Michael McEachran, Researcher and Founder ENPAD
Patricia Servant, Founder Congo Love and Co-Founder, Andree Blouin Culture Center
Moderator:
Cuomba Toure, Africans Rising Movement Coordinator, Author-African Storyteller
Please join us for an engaging discussion as we explore the role of Belgian colonization on the current situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Panelists will discuss the ownership of the Congo by King Leopold II at the dawn of the 20th Century and the devastation that he wrought on the masses of Congolese. They will also delve into the more than half century colonization of the Congolese people by the Belgian state and examine the post independence, neo-colonial period. Finally, the panelists will discuss the current global social movements such as Black Lives Matter and the manner in which they are confronting the Colonial and neo-colonial legacy in an attempt to chart a new course for Congolese, Africans and Blacks globally. The film that will compliment the discussion is Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death.
Presented by AFRICA RISING and FRIENDS OF THE CONGO
PANEL DISCUSSION:
DISMANTLING THE LINGERING EDIFICES OF COLONIALISM: CREATING NEW SYSTEMS GROUNDED IN AFRICAN REALITIES
Panelists:
Petna Ndaliko Katondolo, Filmmaker, Educator, Founde of Yole!Africa and Alkebu Film Productions.
Chérie Rivers Ndaliko, Scholar, Educator, Author, Farmer, and Professor of Geography at UNC-Chapel Hill
Ngugi Wa Thiong’O, Scholar, Author and Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UC-Irvine
Moderator:
Milton Allamadi, Journalist and Publisher of The Black Star News and BurkinaStyle
The Black Lives Matter movement in the United States has triggered a global uprising against global white supremacy and its colonial and neo-colonial edifices. The Democratic Republic of the Congo represents a unique case in personal and colonial rule in Africa. The country was outright owned by King Leopold II from 1885-1908. During his reign, an estimated 10 to 15 million Congolese perished as the King extracted rubber and ivory through forced labor while enriching himself and the Belgian state. The Belgian state took over ownership of the Congo and ruled it as a colonial outpost until independence in 1960. Over 60 years since independence, like much of the rest of Africa, the Congo still suffers from the structures of colonial rule and continues to struggle to decolonize its institutions and the overall society.
Our guests are invited to discuss the remnants of colonialism in Congo and Africa, the challenges they pose and what new avenues can be pursued in order to fully decolonize Congolese and African societies.
