Downstream to Kinshasa

Downstream to Kinshasa 2020

7.30

For two decades, the victims of the Six-Day War have been fighting in Kisangani for the recognition of this bloody conflict and demanding compensation. Tired of unsuccessful pleas, they have finally decided to voice their claims in Kinshasa, after a long journey on the Congo River.

2020

A Tooth for a Tooth

A Tooth for a Tooth 2023

1

Idrissa lives in the suburbs of Dakar, Senegal. As a result of budgetary restrictions imposed by the IMF, then headed by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, he lost his job as a civil servant. Since then, Idrissa has been looking for work, without success. His pride as an African man is all the more affected by the fact that he is now entirely dependent on his wife, Viviane, who somehow manages to support the family through her medical practice. Aminata (Idrissa and Viviane’s daughter) and Moussa, two young students in love with each other, also see their lives disrupted by the economic situation imposed on the country. After yet another humiliation, Idrissa, who holds Strauss-Kahn responsible for his misfortune, decides to go and see a marabout to prepare his revenge…

2023

Cinema Sabaya

Cinema Sabaya 2021

6.11

Eight women, Arab and Jewish, take part in a video workshop hosted by Rona, young filmmaker. With each camera take, the group dynamic forces the women to challenge their beliefs as they get to know one other.

2021

The Mercy of the Jungle

The Mercy of the Jungle 2019

5.80

The Mercy of the Jungle is a road movie that deals with wars in Congo through the eyes of two lost soldiers in the jungle by showcasing their struggle, weakness and hope.

2019

Adieu la chair!

Adieu la chair! 2018

5.40

A rugby stadium in southwestern France. Each and every Sunday, bodies collide. Along the sidelines, Louis and his juniors comrades are fascinated by the feats of the senior team.

2018

Satyajit Ray Negatives - My Life with Manikda

Satyajit Ray Negatives - My Life with Manikda 2006

1

Calcutta, 1950: Satyajit Ray directs his first film and, by opening his eyes on his country's realities, breaks every convention of Indian cinema. During twenty-five years, Ray's personal photographer Nemai Gosh will be his shadow. This movie tells their parallel destinies, it ventures Satyajit Ray's extraordinary artistic journey through the obsessive lens of Nemai Gosh.

2006

Stories Keep Me Awake at Night

Stories Keep Me Awake at Night 2020

1

“Stories Keep Me Awake At Night” is the portrait of day-to-day childhood. A village, a family, a little boy who likes to wear dresses, the return of the wolf and everyday life, ordinary, banal. These elements are used to tell of hidden desires.

2020

Traces, empreintes de femmes

Traces, empreintes de femmes 2003

1

« Traces, women's imprints » is a film that ventures to the discovery of three grandmothers kassenas (Burkina Faso,) their granddaughter, and the exclusively feminine art of this region's mural paintings. Between these women's portraits and a traditional art form, « Traces » is a painting on paintings that reflects upon transmission, education and memory in the context of a world in mutation.

2003

Money, Freedom, a Story of CFA Franc

Money, Freedom, a Story of CFA Franc 2022

6.00

The former French colonies in Central and West Africa have been independent since 1960, but most of these countries still use the currency of the former oppressor: the CFA franc. It was linked to the French franc when it was introduced, so the national bank in Paris controlled monetary policy. Now the currency has a fixed exchange rate with the euro. The link with the European currency strongly influences the monetary policy of CFA countries. And that means the value of the CFA franc is defined by political decisions taken elsewhere, rather than by the domestic economy.

2022

Africain poids-moyens

Africain poids-moyens 2005

6.00

A young Congolese boxer, Samwa, and his older brother, Nourou, arrive in Brussels for the final of the Afro-European Middleweight Championship to fight against the Belgian title holder. Samwa trains heavily, despite some harsh conditions, under the authoritarian look of his brother. Until the day when the Belgian fight promoters, aware of the fact that the political situation gives the final a symbolical turn, order to Samwa to lose the fight. The day before the match, Samwa and Nourou watch Patrice Lumumba's independence's speech. Samwa decides not to give up but in this power's struggle, one of the brothers will betray the other one.

2005

Valley of Souls

Valley of Souls 2022

4.50

A man returns to his home in the Colombian countryside after a long fishing night and discovers that paramilitary forces have killed his two sons and thrown their bodies into the river.

2022

The New Man

The New Man 2023

1

Quirino, 77, has lived for more than 30 years in an abandoned village, at the bottom of a deep valley, between the sea and the mountains. Feeling the effects of old age, Quirino faces the dilemma of having to leave the only place he has ever known or end his days there.

2023

Letters to a Dictatorship

Letters to a Dictatorship 2006

1

A hundred letters written by Portuguese women during the Salazar dictatorship were found by chance in a second-hand bookshop. By confronting today the women who wrote these letters with the ghosts of the past, and revealing important archive material, Letters to a Dictatorship takes us on an in-depth journey through the obscurantism that dominated Portugal for more than 50 years.

2006

Stolen Art

Stolen Art 2009

6.30

Where does one draw the line between 'art' and 'theft'? Art and artist? A criminal and aesthetic investigation into the creation of incognito artist Pavel Novak, virtuosi counterfeiter wanted by the FBI for his 1978 "Stolen Art" exhibition in New York, which caused international stupefaction… some pieces proved to be stolen originals. Simon Backès takes us on a trek across New York, introducing us to specialists who unveil and question our relation to art- a matter of cultural legacy, but also, quite simply, merchandise. Does beauty exist without copyright?

2009

Queen Crocodile

Queen Crocodile 2018

1

Rayna is a Bulgarian prostitute, working in Brussels’ red light district. One night, she shares a mystical and sexual moment with an African client, who dies shortly after. That night will haunt her.

2018

Taamaden

Taamaden 2021

8.00

Bakary, a young man from Mali, sits on a rock in a lake and pours a small packet of milk over his head and body. He then takes an egg, looks at it carefully and says “Monday”, after which he breaks it and drops the yolk into the water. He repeats this several times. Having followed all his marabout’s instructions to the letter, his next crossing should now be successful.

2021