Congo Week Films & Movies
Crisis In The Congo: Uncovering The Truth
Crisis in the Congo: Uncovering The Truth is a 26 minute short that explores the role that the United States and its allies, Rwanda and Uganda, have played in triggering the greatest humanitarian crisis at the dawn of the 21st century. The film is a short version of a feature length production to be released in the near future. It locates the Congo crisis in a historical, social and political context. It unveils analysis and prescriptions by leading experts, practitioners, activists and intellectuals that are not normally available to the general public. The film is a call to conscience and action.
*This movie is available for download or viewing online here: www.congojustice.org
Back to Kinshasa: The Fight for Democracy in the DRC
Three young activists put everything on the line to change the political future of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“The people always win.”
Click here to watch the film.
Justice in the Congo: Cultures of Resistance Short Films
Cultures of Resistance has produced 6 short films to highlight how artists and activists are working to bring awareness to the causes of the conflict, speak out against corruption, and use the power of art and music to heal wounds of violence and suffering. The six films include: Breaking The Silence: Congo Week, Thembo Kash: Cartooning For Justice DRC/Congo, Women Beyond War: A World March In Africa, Building Beyond Conflict: Inspiring Congolese Kids For A Brighter Future, Papa Wemba: Singing For A Democratic Congo, and Lexxus Legal: Hip Hop For Social Change.
*The short films are available for online viewing and download here: http://films.culturesofresistance.org/congo-short-films
Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death. A movie by Peter Bate
“This excellent documentary tells one of the saddest stories of the late imperialist era, the genocide in the Belgian Congo. The growing need for rubber meant death for millions as the Belgian king himself set up world's most efficient production line for rubber. The cruel systematic murder was carried out for the greed of one man.”
*This movie may be obtained from ArtMattan. Click here to order film.
Blood Coltan By Denis Boutelier & Patrick Forester
The mobile phone is a remarkable piece of engineering. But look inside. There’s blood in this machine. There’s blood in this device because your mobile contains tiny electronic circuits, and they couldn’t work without mineral called COLTAN. It’s mined in the eastern Congo. There is blood here, the blood of Congolese who are dying in a terrible conflict.The West’s demand for Coltan, used in mobile phones and computers, is funding the killings in Congo. Under the close watch of rebel militias, children as young as ten work the mines hunting for this black gold. ‘Blood Coltan’ exposes the web of powerful interests protecting this blood trade. Meet the powerful warlords who enslave local population and the European businessmen who continue importing Coltan, in defiance of the UN.
*Watch or Download the film here: http://watchdocumentary.com/watch/blood-coltan-video_b789af3ce.html
Mabele Na Biso (Our Land) - 30 min, HD, Color, DVD, Language: Topoke, French, English Subtitles. 2014.
‘Aid’ and ‘Independence’ are terms that riddle the rhetoric of Western engagement with and imagination of Africa. But what is independence in our increasingly globalized world? Mabele Na Biso (our land) takes us on a journey through time and space to explore one region’s commitment to autonomy and self-determination. Through the unlikely story of a radio that has been modified to run on a generator fueled by locally produced palm oil, this film portrays a different story of African independence – one rooted in a history of defiance that has become a model of community engagement from independent educational systems to free, locally governed healthcare. Beyond offering a portrait into the community of Tolaw/Isangi, Mabele Na Biso invites the viewer to reflect on the true meaning of independence on a continent too often defined by a history of colonialism and domination. Click here to watch trailer!
In order to secure screening rights or purchase the DVD please send email to allason-at-yoleafrica.org.
Congo’s Tin Miners
(FORTUNE Magazine) - Pascal Kasereka emerges from a forest carrying his weight in rocks slung over his back. "We are lucky to have these rocks in the earth," says the 16-year-old, who has spent two days walking from a tin mine in Walikale in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to sell his load. "I hear the Americans like them. Congo contains some of the world's richest deposits of gold, diamonds, copper, and other minerals.”
However this wealth have not benefited the people of the Congo has the war which has lead to looting and exploitation of Congolese resources have now caused the death of 6 million Congolese citizens for nearly a decade.
Click here to watch film.
Lumumba. 2000, 115 minutes, DVD English Directed by Raoul Peck
“It deftly depicts the clutches that Belgium had on the Congo. It also teases out easily for us the European and American forces that were behind the power the inflict the Congo today. The film was sure to specifically implicate the U.S., rightly so, in the murder of Lumumba. It also lets us in on the problems that were present with the inner conflict of the Congo, between Lumumba, Mobutu and Katanga.”
Click here to acquire the movie from Zeitgesit Films.
Mobutu: King of Zaire. 2004, Language English, French 297 minutes Movie by Raymond Barre
Raymond Barre followed the late president for two years and in this documentary charts the amazing life of Mobutu. In November 1965, with help from the CIA, Mobutu seizes power from Kasa-Vubu and renames the country Zaire. This movie highlights the rise and fall of Mobutu by illustrated how he lead the Congo to few years of economy development then followed by two decade of economic and social unrest.
This movie can be obtained from a public library and online http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mobutu-King-Zaire-Raymond-Barre/dp/B0001WAGTM
The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo A film by Lisa F. Jackson
2007, 76 minutes, Color, VHS/DVD, French, Swahili, Lingala, Mashi, Subtitled
“This extraordinary film, shot in the war zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), shatters the silence that surrounds the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Many tens of thousands of women and girls have been systematically kidnapped, raped, mutilated and tortured by soldiers from both foreign militias and the Congolese army.”
North America Sales and Rentals: Women Make Movies
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Lumo, PBS documentary
“This film is so provocative and so brave and such an important film. It lets us understand what a powerful tool film is for social change . . . [It has] so moved me.” Barbara Kopple, Director "Harlan County U.S.A.," two-time Academy Award-winner
*This movie can be obtained by visiting http://www.gomafilmproject.org/
Arms, Dealing and National Interests A documentary by D. Andre & P. Moreira, 93 minutes, Color DVC, French Subtitled in English
The broadcast of this documentary was a big success in France. The documentary highlights the hard work Amnesty International headquarters in London is doing to investigate the globalized arms sell, which is worth 1.2 billion dollars a year, and transfer of arms in third world countries particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As it pertains to the Congolese conflict, a interviewee in the documentary states that the conflict in the Congo “is the most costly conflict since World War II… [which been] gone unnoticed” by the international community.
This movie can be obtained by contacting Friends of the Congo at support-at-congoweek.org.
Street Children of Kinshasa.
This 40 minute documentary by Gilbert Mulamba explores the crisis currently affecting children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The film is one of the most comprehensive for historical account of the DRC.
Street children can be seen in all poor nations of the world, but their numbers have been rising exponentially in the DRC due to a number of factors. The alarm must be sounded now more than ever, as the crisis threatens to derail any development plan for the future of the DRC.
This film can be obtained by contacting the filmmaker, Mr. Gilbert Mulamba at 469-999-7484 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..