Photos: Maysles Documentary Center
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Patrice Lumumba, a towering figure in Congolese history and icon of the global struggle for liberation, dignity, and self-determination. Born July 2nd, 1925 in Katako-Kombe in the Sunkuru district of Kasai Province, Lumumba rose to prominence as Congo’s first elected Prime Minister, guiding the country through its fractious transition from Belgian Colonial rule to independence. Though his life was tragically cut short by a brutal assassination, Lumumba’s unwavering vision of a united, sovereign Congo – free from foreign domination – remains a source of inspiration for generations around the globe. A century after his birth, we honor his legacy not just as a revolutionary leader, but as a symbol of African power and a beacon of hope in the enduring fight against oppression.
| Wednesday, October 22nd at 7PM Congo In Harlem 17 Co-presented with Friends of the Congo, True Walker Productions, and Tabilulu Productions, with support from V-Day and The Africa Center (TAC) NSALA Mickael-Sltan Mbanza, 2025, 10 min. Blending Belgian colonial archives with footage shot today, NSALA reveals the human side of a dehumanizing economic machine. Through past and present imagery, the film questions the legacy of exploitation and the silent trauma that persists in bodies and landscapes marked by history. RED AFRICA Alexander Markov, 2022, 64 min. Built from Soviet newsreels and documentaries shot across Africa from the 1960s through 1990s, RED AFRICA tells the story of how the Soviet Union rushed in as colonial powers were rushing out – with loans, aid, and ideology – hoping to win Africa over to socialism. African leaders were shown a carefully staged version of the USSR: smiling workers, gleaming factories, and the promise of equality. Many embraced the symbols – red ties, parades, one-party rule, believing they were building a better future. But behind the gestures of friendship were other motives. Resources flowed back to Moscow, students were trained more in propaganda than in practical skills, and Soviet “support” often meant weapons, speeches, and control. Over time, the cracks showed. The dream of a global socialist future faded, and when the Soviet Union collapsed, so did its promises – leaving both Africa and the USSR to reckon with what had really been built in socialism’s name. |
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| Thursday, October 23rd at 7PM Congo In Harlem 17 Co-presented with Friends of the Congo, True Walker Productions, and Tabilulu Productions, with support from V-Day and The Africa Center (TAC) MÉDUSE, CHEVEUX AFRO et AUTRES MYTHES Johanna Makabi, 2017,18 min. From London to Paris, ending in Marseille, we set out in search of various salons to film different styles and techniques of hairstyling: cornrows, flat braids, sleek braids, weaves, relaxers, afros… Along the way, through encounters and conversations with passersby and hairdressers, we explore the importance of hair care and maintenance in black and African cultures. Through the stories of Romy, Cyn, Kami, and Louise, we follow their “hair journeys,” which ultimately turn out to be more political than aesthetic. BANDEKO BASI Bie Michels & Paul Shemisi, 2025, 65 min. Filmmakers Paul Shemisi and Bie Michels explore the everyday realities of women in Kinshasa as they navigate the complex intersection of tradition, modernity, and female sexual identity. At the heart of the film is activist Hana Kele (known as HanaKel), whose candid reflections and social media presence challenge taboos and spark open conversations about gender and sexuality. Rather than presenting a structured sociological analysis, the film offers a mosaic of voices – women, queer individuals, and others – captured through spontaneous, intimate encounters that reflect the city’s vibrant, layered perspectives. With its fluid camera work and collaborative approach, Bandeko Basi is a living dialogue, shaped by the filmmakers’ own post-colonial backgrounds and the intimate viewpoints of Congolese women. + Post-screening discussion with filmmaker Bie Michels, moderated by Bibi Ndala from Friends of the Congo! |
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| Friday, October 24th at 7PM Congo In Harlem 17 Co-presented with Friends of the Congo, True Walker Productions, and Tabilulu Productions, with support from V-Day and The Africa Center (TAC) WHERE MY MEMORY BEGAN Priscillia Kounkou-Hoveyda, 2024, 9 min. Elder Ballu arrives at the Cotton Tree after hearing the news that the 400-year-old majestic tree has fallen. Standing at the roots of what’s left, elder Ballu remembers Abigal, Rugiatu and Prince as children at play, James and Michael standing as young men, and a marching band that takes us to a past that we continue to carry today – that of the histories of our ancestors who crossed the Atlantic. WHERE MY MEMORY BEGAN blends stunning visuals of the tree, the different people who have inhabited its reality as well as archival footage, music and dance to tell a timeless story of a quest for freedom. THE TREE OF AUTHENTICITY Sammy Baloji, 2025, 85 min. Nestled in Africa’s largest rainforest lies one of the many graves of the West’s efforts to control nations and nature – one of the world’s largest tropical agricultural research centers. Located on the banks of the Congo River, the Yangambi INERA Research Station was a booming scientific center in its heyday. Today, it is an amalgam of jungle and ruin, where questions of knowledge, power over it, and access to it linger. THE TREE OF AUTHENTICITY recounts the stigma of ecological destruction that began at the time of colonisation through the voices of two emblematic scientists who worked at Yangambi between 1910 and 1950: Paul Panda Farnana and Abiron Beirnaert. Their stories embody the legacies of colonial modernity and trace the origins of today’s environmental injustice. |
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| Saturday, October 25th at 2PM Congo In Harlem 17 Co-presented with Friends of the Congo, True Walker Productions, and Tabilulu Productions, with support from V-Day and The Africa Center (TAC) ***Special Panel Discussion*** VIRTUAL EVENT via >ZOOM< STANDING WITH CONGO’S FRONTLINE FOREST DEFENDERS The Democratic Republic of the Congo accounts for 62% of the Congo Basin which is the second largest rainforest in the world. The Congo Basin is often referred to as the second lung of the world with the Amazon being the first. However, the Congo Basin sequesters more carbon than both the Amazon and Borneo. It is also home to the largest tropical peatlands, which makes up 4% of the Congo rainforest, and stores the equivalent of 20 years of the United States’ carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. The Congo basin is a global patrimony which is vital to the entire planet. The primary people relied upon to protect and preserve the Congo Basin are its Indigenous inhabitants. However, they are often silenced and sidelined. This forum will highlight and amplify the voices of Indigenous communities in the Congo Basin and share concrete ways in which climate justice advocates and people throughout the globe can be in solidarity with Congo’s frontline forest defenders. + Speakers TBA! |
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| Saturday, October 25th at 7PM Congo In Harlem 17 Co-presented with Friends of the Congo, True Walker Productions, and Tabilulu Productions, with support from V-Day and The Africa Center (TAC) BLACK SUN Alexei Speshnev, 1970, 97 min. BLACK SUN is a long-unseen and rarely screened Soviet drama that offers a fictionalized portrayal of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba through the character of Robert Moussombe, the president of an unnamed African nation. Drawing from the real events of the Congo Crisis in the 1960s, the film captures the turmoil of post-independence Africa as it became a battleground for Cold War ideologies. Told through haunting flashbacks and a metaphysical dialogue between two dead men trying to understand their fate, BLACK SUN blends political allegory with personal tragedy. Directed by Alexei Speshnev – an influential Soviet screenwriter and filmmaker – Black Sun was his third fiction feature and part of a trilogy exploring African–Soviet relations. The film features a cast of professional actors, amateurs, and international students from Soviet university theaters, representing over 30 African countries. With Cameroonian theater actor Ambroise M’Bia and Senegalese film star Mbissine Thérèse Diop in leading roles, the film stands out as a rare and ambitious experiment in Soviet internationalist cinema, revisiting colonialism, revolution, and betrayal through a uniquely Eastern Bloc lens. + Post-screening discussion with Iranga Tcheko, Milton Allimadi (Black Star News), and Lubangi Muniania (Tabilulu Productions), and closing night reception with live music by Nkumu Katalay! |
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| Sunday, November 2, 2025 at 7PM PALESTINE CINEMA DAYS FREE screening co-presented with Rada Collaborative. JENIN JENIN Mohammed Bakri, 2002, 50 min. ‘Where is God’, an elderly man desperately wonders when surveying the debris in the Palestinian refugee camp Jenin. Israeli troops barged into the camp in March 2002. After a grim battle that lasted for days, a large part of the camp had been razed to the ground and, besides a number of soldiers, many civilians had been killed. This film shows the extent to which the prolonged oppression and terror has affected the state of mind of the Palestinian inhabitants of Jenin. Bitterness and grief are the prevailing feelings among the majority of the population. Many have lost loved ones or are still searching for victims and furniture among the debris. A little girl, who does not seem to be much older than twelve, tells her story but knows no fear. The ongoing violence in her day-to-day life only nourishes her feelings of hatred and the urge to take revenge. She tells what she would do to Prime Minister Sharon if he visited the camp and she shouts that the Palestinians will never give up the struggle. They will keep on producing children, who can continue the fight against injustice. The sad question forces itself on the spectator. What will become of a country, a people when its children are confronted with war and violence from a very early age? |
