Zaire

Mwezé Ngangura was born in Bukavu, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) in October of 1950. At the age of twenty he won a scholarship to go to Belgium and study at the Institut des arts de diffusion, graduating in 1975. While a student he made two short films, Tamtam électronique (1973) and Rhythm and Blood (1975). Returning to Zaire in 1976 he became a lecturer at three colleges in Kinshasa: the National Institute of Arts (INA), Institute of Science and Information Technologies (ISTI) and Studio-School of the Voice of Zaire (SEVOZA). He made his first documentary, Chéri-Samba, in 1980, a portrait of a popular young painter from Kinshasa. His next work Kin Kiesse ou les Joies douces-amères de Kinshasa-la-Belle (1982) documents the sweet and sour pleasures of Kinshasa la Belle. Kin Kiesse won prizes in Ouagadougou (FESPACO ’83), Hammamet (CIRTEF ’83), and was selected for INPUT ’86 in Montreal. In 1985, returning to Europe, Mwezé Ngangura worked on the scenario of Life Is Rosy (La vie est belle, released in 1987) with funding from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1992, Mwezé Ngangura made Changa-Changa, Rythmes en noirs et blancs (Changa-Changa, Rhythms in Black and White), a documentary produced in Brussels on intercultural encounters where different styles of music enrich. Changa-Changa was broadcast on television and shown at many festivals, including FESPACO (Pan African Film Festival of Ouagadougou), Vues d'Afrique (Montreal), and Bilan du Film Ethnographique (Paris). In 1997, he directed Le général Tombeur, a 26-minute documentary that tells the story of Bukavu from the expedition of General Charles-Henri Tombeur in 1914-18 to the current date. This film was selected at the Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) in February 1997 and the Montreal festival Views from Africa in April 1997. In 1998, Mwezé Ngangura directed Pièces d'Identités (Identity Pieces), a feature film shot in Brussels and Cameroon, which received the Audience Award at the 8th Festival of African Cinema of Milan in 1998 and the Grand Prix at FESPACO in Ouagadougou in 1999. Pièces d'Identités is a modern fairy story set in the world of African immigrants in Europe.

Filmography

Tamtam électronique (1973)
Rhythm and Blood (1975)
Chéri-Samba (1980)
Kin Kiesse ou les Joies douces-amères de Kinshasa-la-Belle (1982)
Life Is Rosy / La vie est belle (1987)
Changa-Changa, Rythmes en noirs et blancs (1992)
Le Roi, la Vache et le Bananier, chronique d’un retour au Royaume de Ngweshe (1994)
Lettre à Makura : les derniers Bruxellois (1995)
Le Général Tombeur (1997)
Identity Pieces / Pièces d’identités (1998)
Au nom de mon père (2001)
The Governor’s New Clothes (2004)
Shégués, les enfants de la jungle urbaine (2008)
Tu n’as rien vu à Kinshasa (2010)