Soul Power

Dir. Jeffrey Levi-Hinte, 2009, 93min.
Soul Power documents the Zaire 74 music festival that accompanied the "Rumble in the Jungle" heavyweight boxing championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in October 1974.

Panel discussion with Maurice Carney (Friends of the Congo), Lubangi Muniania (Tabilulu Productions), author Yaa-Lengi Ngemi and Ken Braun (Sterns Music USA, compiler of Franco Phonic).

Lumumba
Dir. Raoul Peck, 2000, 100min.
The true story of the rise to power and brutal assassination of the formerly vilified and later redeemed leader of independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba.

Panel discussion with author Yaa-Lengi Ngemi and activist Kambale Musavuli, and art critic/educator Lubangi Muniania to follow screening + opening night reception featuring poetry by Omekongo Dibinga.

Co-Presented by Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Museum for African Art, Zeitgeist Films

Yole!Africa Program
Dir. Petna Katondolo, 60 min.
Three short films (Lamokowang, True Story, and Intervention Rapide) by Petna Katondolo made in conjunction with Yole!Africa, a local community arts organization based in Goma, DR Congo.
Discussion with director Petna Katondolo moderated by Nita Evele & reception to follow screening.

Co-Presented by Yole! Africa, Congo Global Action, ENOUGH Project

Pieces d’Identite
Dir. Mweze Ngangura, 1998, 93min.
A Congolese king arrives Brussels in search of his long-lost daughter. What masquerades as a simple fable raises some of the most troubling issues of identity facing people of African descent in the ever-widening Diaspora of the late 20th century.
Discussion with Professor Joseph Mwantuali (Hamilton College) and author Yaa-Lengi Ngemi & reception to follow screening.

Co-Presented by Friends of the Congo

Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death
Dir. Peter Bate, 2003, 84 min.
A harrowing investigation of how King Leopold II of Belgium acquired Congo as a colony and exploited it by reign of terror.

Dan Rather Reports: All Mine
Dir. Andrew Glazer, HD Net, 2009, 32 min.
When an American company bought a massive copper mine from the government of DR Congo, it also took control of part of the impoverished country's economic future. Critics say the contract for the billion-dollar mine left the war-torn African nation with little in return, and the US government played a part in what many are describing as a modern day land grab. Featuring Professor Peter Rosenblum (Columbia University Law School).

Discussion with Professor Peter Rosenblum, Jason Stearns (former UN investigator), and attorney/activist Joseph Mbangu, moderated by Maurice Carney (Friends of the Congo) to follow screening.

Co-Presented by Yatt Ndindory Video

Lumo
Filmmakers: Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt, Nelson Walker, Lynn True, Louis Abelman, 2007, 72min.
An intimate portrait of Lumo Sinai, a young Congolese woman on an uncertain road to recovery at a unique hospital for rape survivors.

Panel discussion with filmmakers, Carrie Crawford (Director, Friends of the Congo), and Hon. Dr. Kasereka “Jo” Lusi and Lyn Lusi, founders of HEAL Africa Hospital to follow screening + reception featuring poetry by Toni Blackman.

Co-presented by Human Rights Watch Film Festival and HEAL Africa

****Special Event***

Ndunga Procession

The tradition of African masquerade is used for many purposes one of which is healing. The Ndunga Project is based on “Ndunga” the Congolese masquerade that appears in ceremonies to warn the villagers of injustices against themselves or towards others. The word “Ndunga” loosely translates to “Justifier” in English, pronounced N-dunga.

Gathering and procession from the Ndunga Public Art Project will begin at 6:30pm with designer Sandra Am Bell at the Harlem State Office Building located at 163 W. 125th Street at the corner of Adam Clayton Boulevard. Procession will end at the Maysles Cinema before showtime.

The Greatest Silence: Rape in Congo
Dir. Lisa F. Jackson, 2007, 76min.
Violence against women in conflict has been called one of history’s greatest silences. This documentary, filmed in the war zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo over several months in 2006 and 2007, breaks the silence that has surrounded the tens of thousands of women and girls who have been kidnapped, raped, sexually enslaved and tortured in that country’s intractable civil war.

Following the screening, a discussion with attorney/activist Joseph Mbangu, Aningina Tshefu Bibiane (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom), Sandra AM Bell (designer, Ndunga Public Art Project) and others TBD.

Co-presented by the Friends of the Congo

Mobutu, King of Zaire
Dir. Thierry Michel, 1999, 135 min.
Following two years of investigation, this documentary charts the amazing life Congo’s eponymous dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko.

Reception sponsored by Awale Restaurant to follow screening.

Co-presented by the Friends of the Congo

Women in War Zones
Dir. Scott Blanding and Brad LaBriola, 2009, 51min.
A touching look into the lives of two young women who become sisters as they recover from sexual violence at Panzi Hospital.

Panel discussion with filmmakers Brad LaBriola & Greg Heller, Eve Ensler (V-Day) and author Yaa-lengi Ngemi, Aningina Tshefu Bibiane (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom), moderated by journalist Jimmie Briggs. Reception sponsored by Sylvia’s Restaurant to follow screening

Co-Presented by V-Day

African Pygmy Thrills
Dir. Eugene W. Castle, 1930s, 10min.
An amazing study of a pygmy community building a vine-bridge 50 feet above a crocodile infested river. Warner Herzog cites this film as the impetus for embarking on a career in film.

Matamata & Pilipili
Dir. Tristan Bourland, 1997, 58 min.
A rare glimpse at some of the earliest films shot in Congo, revealing the complex terrain of colonial relationships, media representations, and popular culture.

Afro@Digital
Dir. Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, 2003, 52 min.
An exploration of how digital technology is changing the landscape of African art and culture, and how it can be used to serve the interest of Africa at large.

Article 15a
Dir. Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, 1999, 15 min.

We Too Walked on the Moon
Dir. Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, 2009, 16 min.

Panel discussion with director Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, Richard Pena (Program Director, Film Society of Lincoln Center) and Lubangi Muniania (Tabilulu Productions) to follow screening.

Jupiter's Dance (2006)
Dir. Renaud Barret and Florent de La Tullaye, 2006, 73 min.
An exhilarating jaunt through the streets of Kinshasa to meet musicians who struggle to emerge from the chaos. Jupiter, the charismatic leader of the band Okwess International, serves as the film’s guide as he describes his city and his long battle to break out of the ghetto with his music.

Les Vulnerables
Dir. Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt, 2007, 14 min.
A coming of age story about a schoolboy who tries to prove his manhood to his wheelchair-bound father by helping him smuggle goods over the border between Congo and Rwanda.

CONGO IN HARLEM Series Info and Schedule >

***Special Sneak Preview***
Once Upon A Time in the Congo
Dir. Said Yenga Kakese Dibinga, 2009

La Vie Est Belle (Life is Rosy)
Dir. Mweze Ngangura and Benoit Lamy, 1987, 80 min.
Legendary Congolese musician Papa Wemba plays a poor country boy with music in his heart and big dreams. He travels to the city, where he falls in love with second wife of a prominent club owner. Can he win her hand and fulfill his dreams of being as singer?

Discussion with Professor Joseph Mwantuali (Hamilton College) and Angele Makombo (UN Dept. of Political Affairs) to follow screening.

Reception sponsored by Awale Restaurant with special performance by Simon Kashama.

Co-presented by the Georges Malaika Foundation

CONGO IN HARLEM Series Info and Schedule >

***SPECIAL PANEL***

Micro City: An Educational Campus in the Democratic Republic of Congo
A presentation and panel by advanced students of architecture at Columbia University. The students recently traveled to the Katanga province in southern DR Congo to gather information for the design of a secondary school campus, community college, and teacher’s campus. Students will share their experiences, insights and preliminary design ideas.

CONGO IN HARLEM Series Info and Schedule >

***SPECIAL EVENT***

Ndunga Procession

The tradition of African masquerade is used for many purposes one of which is healing. The Ndunga Project is based on “Ndunga” the Congolese masquerade that appears in ceremonies to warn the villagers of injustices against themselves or towards others. The word “Ndunga” loosely translates to “Justifier” in English, pronounced N-dunga.

Gathering and procession from the Ndunga Public Art Project will begin at 6:30pm with designer Sandra Bell at the Harlem State Office Building located at 163 W. 125th Street at the corner of Adam Clayton Boulevard. Procession will end at the Maysles Cinema before showtime. Procession will end at the Maysles Cinema before showtime.

A Duty to Protect
Dir. Witness, 2005, 14 min.
The widespread recruitment and use of child solders in the Democratic Republic of Congo is unparalleled throughout Africa -- tens of thousands of children have been recruited as combatants in the current conflict. A Duty to Protect advocates for an end to the impunity in Congo and accountability for the crimes committed against children.

Reporter
Dir. Eric Daniel Metzgar, 2009, 90min.
Reporter Nicholas Kristof travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo to investigate the growing humanitarian crisis.

Panel discussion featuring director Eric Daniel Metzgar, Mohamed Keita (Committee to Protect Journalists), journalist Makeda Crane, Sasha Lezhnev (ENOUGH Project) and Bukeni Waruzi (Witness) to follow screening. Closing night reception featuring a musical performance by Deja Belle.

Co-presented by Witness and ENOUGH project