Djo Tunda wa Munga returns from film school in Brussels with an ambitious project: the establishment of a Congolese film industry, from scratch. Setting up his production in post-war Kinshasa, Djo has to overcome enormous difficulties as he begins directing a series of groundbreaking films which target major social issues such as AIDS in an unprecedented form: Based on true stories and told in Lingala these films give an authentic voice to the people of the DRC, capturing their lives on film for the first time and introducing visual memory in a country which until now, has lived entirely in the present.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is a nation which has suffered the oppression of colonization, severe exploitation and devastating wars in a seemingly endless struggle for independence and the establishment of stable, peaceful living conditions. As an artist working with perhaps the most powerful medium of this century, Djo recognizes the potential of film to trigger social change, and he begins tackling one of the countries most virulent issues: AIDS. Facing the considerable challenge of producing films in a country still devastated by the wars and lacking any film infrastructure whatsoever, Djo has makes incredible achievements. His pilot project, Papy, makes a deep impact on communities in the DRC. For his new production,
in order to train sufficient technical crew and actors to be able to shoot the film directly in Kinshasa, Djo launches a film workshop. The implications of this bold move reach beyond Congolese cinema. Defying the financial dominance of first-world film industry, Djo’s initiative is an invitation to other countries on the margin of the film industry to make their voices be heard.

Djo Tunda wa Munga: A film pioneer

Djo is a genteel, sophisticated, funny, smart, talkative, opinionated person, with a passion for ideas. He is a man with a vision.

The making of his new film Viva Riva would be the principal subject of my documentary. Visually, the story is compelling because of the double-glance: It is a camera watching another camera, a filmmaker portraying other filmmakers. Packed with interesting characters, the film portrays a hard-working, ambitious group of people from the DRC striving to absorb the film industry, to play a part in this movement. It displays and praises film as a powerful medium of social entrepreneurship, capturing a crucial development in the DRC, and in the history of independent cinema.