Democratic Republic of the Congo

Petna Ndaliko Katondolo is an internationally acclaimed filmmaker and activist whose cinematic style combines rhythm, image, and social critique with digital innovation to challenge traditional narrative structures. His films skirt the boundary of fiction and reality and provoke reflection on post-colonial African realities. Born in 1974 in Goma, Petna Ndaliko Katondolo graduated in stage direction from the Experimental, Cultural and Ecological Workshop in Tchimba. In 1994 he wrote his first play Victims of War exploring the memory of the survivors of the genocide in Rwanda. In 1997, war forced him to flee and he ended up in a refugee camp in Kampala. There he founded the cultural centre Yole! Africa in 2000 and resumed his work in the theatre and film. His work as a documentary filmmaker got gradually noticed: Wakimbizi (Refugees – 2002) and Lamokowang (Calabash – 2004) which were selected to festivals in New Delhi, Amiens and Zanzibar allowed him to initiate international collaborations in Nairobi, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels including Digital 01 (2004) and Threatened Fate (2005). In 2005 he re-established Yole! Africa as a new cultural centre in Goma, offering training in film, theatre, dance, painting and music as well as developing community and advocacy work on themes such as HIV/AIDS, Human and civil rights. Petna Ndaliko Katondolo is also the initiator of the Salaam Kivu International Film Festival (SKIFF). In his documentary Jazz Mama, Petna vents his political anger through a 30-minute doc aimed at raising awareness of gender-based violence in Congo. Another film called Africatude explores the complex relationship between Africans and various groups of African descent around the world. The filmmaker has been Artist in Residence at the Sonja Haynes Centre for Black Culture and History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Filmography

Wakimbizi / Refugees (2002)
Lamokowang / Calabash (2004)
Théâtre brûlé (2004)
Digital 01 (2004)
Twaomba Amani (2005)
Searching for the Digital Spirit (2005)
Threatened Fate (2005)
Mad-ia (2005)
Goma, capitale du cinema? (2005)
Ha! (2005)
Pandisha Bendera (2007)
M’Kataba (2007)
True Story (2008)
Intervention rapide (2008)
Jazz Mama (2010)
Decoding (2019)
Matata (2019)