Cinema of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Development of a local film industry started after the Democratic Republic of the Congo gained its independence from Belgium in 1960, and was handicapped by constant civil war.

During the colonial era before the DRC gained independence, administrators of the Belgian Congo did not allow Africans to watch foreign films, officially because they said they could not understand the difference between fact and fiction.

[1] Following the Congo's independence from Belgium in 1960, the country experienced a series of civil wars that largely destroyed the nascent film industry.

[2] His Identity Pieces,[3] a musical comedy, won the Stallion de Yennenga at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou in 1999.

Kibushi N'djate Wooto produced the animated short Crapaud chez ses beaux-parents [fr] in 1992, with French funding.

[5] However, as recorded in Guy Bomanyama-Zandu's 2005 documentary Le Congo, quel cinéma!, local productions today have difficulty making money.

[8] In 2009 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was using the cinema to break taboos on discussing rape, which was commonplace during the civil wars.

[10] Filmmaker Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda helped organize the first Semaine du film congolais (Sefico) festival in May 2011 at Le Zoo, a cultural center.