Congo Cinematic Times

Curated by Sammy Baloji and Rosa Spaliviero
In collaboration with KW Institute for Contemporary Art

Nsala
Mickael-Sltan Mbanza, Democratic Republic of the Congo 2025, 10 min. No dialog  

Machini
Frank Mukunday and Tetshim, Belgium, Democratic Republic of the Congo 2019, 10 min. French with English subtitles.

Tales from the Source
Léonard Pongo, Belgium, Democratic Republic of the Congo 2024, 39 min. No dialog  

Nuit Debout (Up at Night)
Nelson Makengo, Belgium, Democratic Republic of the Congo 2019, 21 min. Lingala and French with English subtitles.

Introduced by Sammy Baloji and Rosa Spaliviero.

Congo Cinematic Times is a film screening curated by artist Sammy Baloji and film producer Rosa Spaliviero. The films take as their starting point the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s natural resource wealth, the history of its extraction, and its ongoing impact on local society and the environment. Many of the films emerged from artist residencies at Picha, an independent initiative based in Lubumbashi that supports artistic creation in the DRC and was co-founded in 2008 by Baloji, Spaliviero, and a collective of artists and cultural practitioners.

Sammy Baloji (b. 1978, DRC) is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works between Lubumbashi and Brussels.

Rosa Spaliviero (b. 1981, SEN) is a producer who supports innovative cinema with a strong social or political dimension. In 2017, she co-founded Twenty Nine Studio & Production with Sammy Baloji.