Kumbuka

KUMBUKA is a multi-dimensional film that confronts the history and legacy of colonial views of Africa. It tells the story of two emerging African filmmakers as they struggle to re-edit an acclaimed yet controversial Dutch film about them. As the primary subjects of that film, they had publicly criticized it for its Eurocentric perspective, which they felt distorted their story. Having been offered the original footage for use by the film’s production company, they are at the same time presented with a chance to launch their nascent filmmaking careers as well as with the constraints that underscore persistent questions of power in cinematic representations of Africa. Interspersed with their re-editing efforts are two contradictory collections of archival footage, which provide a meta-critique both of the colonial project and of the Africanfuturistic movement that is growing in Congo in the wake of Petna Katondolo’s ongoing project of RECODING AESTHETICS.

Petna Ndaliko Katondolo is a filmmaker, activist, and educator living in Goma and Chapel Hill. His multigenre artistic works are known for their decolonial Afrofuturistic artistic style, which engages historical content to address contemporary sociopolitical and cultural issues. In 2000 he co-founded Yole!Africa and in 2005 he founded the Salaam Kivu International Film Festival. Ndaliko Katondolo teaches and consults regularly for international organizations, addressing social and political inequity among marginalized groups through culture and education. After MATATA (2019) and KAPITA (2020) this is his third participation with Forum Expanded.

Production Ellen Lammers. Production company Alkebu Film Productions (Chapel Hill, USA). Written and directed by Petna Ndaliko Katondolo. Cinematography Petna Ndaliko Katondolo. Editing Petna Ndaliko Katondolo. Sound design Lee Weisert. Sound Jack Muhindo Mahamba. Production design Michael Castofas. Costumes Speranza Sikuli. Make-up Speranza Sikuli. Casting Petna Ndaliko Katondolo. Assistant director Michael Castofas. Production manager Ganza Buroko. Executive producer Cherie Rivers Ndaliko. With Bernadette Vivuya (Filmmaker), Kagoma Twahirgwa (Filmmaker), Yabili Marcel (Curator), Samy Baloji (Philosopher), Anny Mahamba (Great Spirit Nyabingi), Mzee Simisi (Wise Man), Petna Ndaliko (Mwalimu (Teacher)), Fowota Mortoo (Messanger), Maitre Nzungu (Warrior), Amir Bin Saidi (Teacher of the Warriors). 

Films

selection: 2004: Théâtre Brûlé (10 min.), Lamokowang (13 min.). 2005: Threatened Fate (7 min.). 2007: Pandisha Bandera (45 min.). 2010: Jazz Mama (32 min.). 2012: Melting Justice (5 min.). 2013: Mabele na Biso (34 min.). 2014: Myth Eyes (3 min.). 2016: The Dead Are Not Dead (10 min.). 2019: Danze (21 min.), Matata (37 min., Forum Expanded 2020). 2020: Kapita (22 min., Forum Expanded 2021). 2021: Kumbuka.