18.00: Documentary film: Les Fantômes de Lovanium, in presence of the filmmaker

The screening is organized together with the Connecting in times of duress programme Leiden University.

Filmmaker Cécile Michel and artist Sapin Makengele will both be present.

Les Fantômes de Lovanium is a documentary about the student protest that took place in Kinshasa in 1969, during Mobutu’s regime. The protest was brutally oppressed, some of the student bodies were never found. The roundabout where the shooting took place stands idly by, keeping its secrets from the inhabitants of the city. This project is the result of a collaboration between the Belgian filmmaker Ccil Michel, historian Pedro Monaville and the Congolese popular painter Sapin Makengele.

Sapin places his improvised easel at different locations in the university campus and paints. This is a way to elicit people to learn and talk about the history of the student protest. As the documentary evolves, the conversation turns more and more lively, but also more contemporary. Students do not only ask questions about what happened in the past, during Mobutu’s regime, but readily make the link towards the present regime. The debate becomes so delicate because open accusations of the current regime can have pernicious consequences. The documentary has not been screened in Congo for instance, out of fear.

Country: D.R. Congo
Year: 2013
Length: 50 minutes
Filmmaker: Cécile Michel, Belgium
Language: French, with English subtitles

The film will be preceded by a seminar. More info.
After the film there will be a Q&A session with the audience. Language: French