Belguim / 2010 / 156mins / Documentary / French and Lingala

Kongo is a documentary series in three episodes that focuses on the colonization of the largest country in Central Africa, Congo, whose destiny was out of ordinary. This movie series offers an original and new perspective on that region, drawing on the historiography and using the latest methods of docudrama movie.

Episode 1: The Unbridled Race (52mins)
Director: Samuel Tilman
Through the eyes of French, Portuguese, Belgian and African pioneers, this introductory episode retraces the first major phases of Congo’s colonial occupation. From the Portuguese arrival in the XVI Century until the XIX Century, at height of King Leopold II’s sovereign kingdom, from the slave trade to the rubber trade, this episode delves into the inner-workings of this bloody conquest, as described by insider witnesses.

Episode 2: The Great Illusion (52mins)
Director: Daniel Cattier
In 1908, under sharp criticism, Leopold II reluctantly cedes the Congolese Independent State to Belgium. Over the course of the next fifty years, both colonists and indigenous, each on opposite sides, build the Congolese “nation”. This second episode examines both European and African historical figures, sometimes unknown, that shaped history through their ideas and actions. Each figure tells his or her experience of the events that shaped a significant chapter of the 20th Century history.

Episode 3: The Failed Giant (52mins)
Directors: Jean-François Bastin and Isabelle Christiaens
Patrick Emery Lumumba, Congo’s first prime minister, was assassinated during the turbulent times of the independence movement. He is the voice of this third episode. This ephemeral yet immortal hero passionately tells the story of his country’s history from 1960 until 2010, from Joseph Kasa-Vubu to the United Nations at the Monuc. This last episode describes the challenges of building a nation upon the rubble left behind by colonial alienation.

Jean-François Bastin

Jean-François Bastin was born in 1948, and has a degree in Roman Philosophy and History of Art. He worked in the Belgian Radio and Television of the French Community (RTBF) for 28 years as a jounralist and documentary filmmaker. Jean-François Bastin and Isabelle Christiens founded the report magazine story L’Hebdo in 1993. Learn More

Daniel Cattier

Daniel Cattier is a freelance film director. His aim is to tell stories linked with Africa. Through his mixed cultural and linguistic background (his father being Belgian and his mother Zimbabwean) the issue of identity is at the core of his interests. After completing the first cycle of a law degree, he studied politics and history at London University School of Oriental and African Studies. Prior to filmmaking, he worked as a research and campaign assistant at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International. He then moved into TV production working as a researcher for documentaries produced for Channel 4, BBC and France 3. Beside his personal projects, he does storyboards and directs corporates, TV programs as well as commercials. Learn More

Isabelle Christiaens

Isabelle Christiaens worked as a director for 25 years at Belgian channel RTBF. She graduated from IAD (Ecole Supérieure des Arts) in Belgium in 1985. She then began her career in news production and produced reports for magazines such as C'est à voir, Plein cadre, and Droit de cité. Learn More

Samuel Tilman

Samuel Tilman is a Belgian director and producer. He received a master's degree at Oxford University and a PhD in History at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. His doctoral thesis was awarded by the Academy of Sciences. He is also co-initiator of the project digitizing and repatriation of archival for which he is prizewinner of the Bernheim Foundation. Samuel Tilman co-scripted and produced Joachim Lafosse's film Ça Rend Heureux, which won the Grand Prix at the Premiers Plans Festival in Angers in 2007. His second short film, Sleepless Night, won the Magritte award for Best Short Film in 2011. In 2015, he directed The Last Stand, shown on prime-time France 2 television (3.5 million viewers). It is the first fiction-documentary shot entirely in motion capture for television. He co-wrote and staged the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Magritte Awards ceremony in Belgium, presented by Fabrizio Rongione, then Charlie Dupont. Along with Fabrizio Rongione, he co-wrote two solo shows for stage in 2002 and 2009. Along with Marie Besson, Nicolas de Borman, Fabrizio Rongione and Stephane Heymans, they created the production company, Eklektik Productions, in 2005. Learn More