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Artmattan Films Acquires Award-Winning Documentary Kinshasa Makambo

Kinshasa Makambo

Kinshasa Makambo

Critically acclaimed DRC documentary, Kinshasa Makambo, has recently been acquired by ArtMattan Films

It's obvious the director feels for his subjects and his country's sorry fate...but he has opted to stay in the background and allow his interviewees and his images to tell their (and his) stories.”
— The Hollywood Reporter
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES , October 2, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In January 2015, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, sought a constitutional amendment that would allow him to be elected president for a third time.

This film documents the resulting demonstrations and follows three protagonists of the resistance. Ben, who lives in exile in New York, takes the advice of his fellow countrymen in exile and decides to join the struggle in the Congo. Jean Marie, who has just been released from prison, continues his public campaign for his country's freedom and is persecuted by the secret service. Christian fights unperturbed in the streets of Kinshasa, even after former Prime Minister Etienne Tshisekedi, on whom the opposition had pinned their hopes, dies and the movement against Kabila's extension of his time in office seems paralysed.

Should one resist in exile, or fight on the ground in the Congo? Should resistance be non-violent or should force be used if required? Filmed throughout with a handheld camera that stays very close to the protagonists, even in precarious conditions, Dieudo Hamadi explores the pros and cons of different forms of resistance.

As of September 2018, general elections are scheduled to be held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 23 December 2018, to determine a successor to incumbent President Joseph Kabila.

"Hamadi's camerawork is vibrant and thoughtful, and Hélène Ballis' editing is crisp. It's obvious the director feels for his subjects and his country's sorry fate — he got to know his protagonists through Ben, whom he met at a political-cultural event in 2013 — but he has opted to stay in the background and allow his interviewees and his images to tell their (and his) stories. The result is an explosion of ideas and action — a vivid articulation of the throbbing headache threatening to blow the Congo apart."
- The Hollywood Reporter

"Kinshasa Makambo offers conflicts aplenty, both in the shape of physical clashes between the oppressive state apparatus and unarmed civilians, and the ideological struggles within the anti-establishment camp. The film succeeds on both scores. Alongside gripping depictions of political mobilizations and police clampdowns, the 33-year-old filmmaker contemplates the inevitable clashes between idealism and pragmatism for people trying to achieve their goals under severe constraints."
- The Hollywood Reporter

ABOUT ARTMATTAN FILMS
ArtMattan Films is a film distribution company that aims to present more varied choice of films depicting the human experience of people of color in a context different from the usual museums, cultural centers and universities to which these films are traditionally relegated.

With no intention of defining a canon, the films in the Artmattan catalog are as diverse in genres and styles as any contemporary artistic expression can be. From the strong "Faraw!, mother of the dunes" by Malian filmmaker Abdoulaye Ascofare to the joyous "Journey of the Lion" by Fritz Bauman, these films are snapshots to the incredible range of the lives of people of color whose life and place in history have been marked by a distinctive sign: the color of the skin.

These films have enjoyed acclaim in different festivals all over the world including the African Diaspora Film Festival. They are components of a movement that has created a strong and diverse cinematic body of work.

Diarah N'Daw-Spech
ArtMattan Films
212-864-1760
email us here

Kinshasa Makambo

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