Democratic Republic of the Congo

Machérie Ekwa Bahango was born in Kisagani in the eastern province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She was studying law when she decided to learn the basics of filmmaking by watching online videos. After connecting with other filmmakers in the Congo, she was contacted by Alain Gomis to translate the script for his 2017 film Félicité into Lingala, her mother tongue. In 2014, Machérie worked as a production manager and interviewer for the production company Labson Bizizi Ciné-Kongo LTD, (London). In 2016, she wrote 6 episodes for the television series, Ndakisa: lobi mokolo ya sika, an institutional project. Mak’ila, her debut film as a director was selected into Berlinale 2018 in the Forum section. It won the Golden Screen award at the 2018 Ecrans Noirs Film Festival.

Filmography

Maki’la (2017)
Sema / Speak Out (2019)