Democratic Republic of the Congo, Benin and Belgium / 2008 / 56mins / Documentary / Lingala and French

As the next World Cup approached in South Africa in 2008, two young Congolese students follow their dream to make a documentary about Congo's national football team "The Leopards of Zaire", which was the first black African soccer team to have taken part in the 1974 World Cup.

Monique Mbeka Phoba

Monique Mbeka Phoba was born in 1962 in Brussels, the daughter of a DRC diplomat. She visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo during her school holidays, but established herself in Belgium when aged sixteen after her father resigned his office. She studied at the Free University of Brussels, and obtained a degree in International Business from the Institute for Advanced Studies of Saint-Luc in Brussels. Her graduating thesis was centered on “Cooperation between the European and African Audiovisual Industries''. While a student Monique Mbeka Phoba gave talks on African culture on Independent radio and wrote articles in various newspapers in Brussels and Geneva. She then took an introductory course created by Jean Rouch in a documentary video at the Ateliers Varan in Paris. In 2008, Monique Mbeka Phoba completed a documentary on the Zaire national team, the Leopards, which shone in the 1974 football World Cup. This team was the first from Sub-Saharan Africa to participate in a FIFA World Cup. Entre la coupe et l’élection (Between the Cup and the Election) was co-directed with Guy Kabeya Muya. From 1995 to 2007, Monique Mbeka Phoba lived in Benin, where she has worked on production, distribution and promotion of African cinema. She created the Lagunimages TV and documentary festival in 2000. Since 2007, Monique Mbeka Phoba has lived in Belgium where she obtained a new degree in scriptwriting. She produced her first short film Sister Oyo, in 2014. Learn More

Guy Kabeya Muya

Guy Kabeya Muya, born in 1970 in Kinshasa, is a filmmaker from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1988, he began studying at the National Institute of Performance Arts (INAS) in Kinshasa, graduating with a degree in drama in 1996. He also took courses in Mbalmayo, Cameroon on audiovisual techniques and in Douala, Cameroon on animation and visual communication. In 2004, he was first assistant to Thierry Michel on the set of the film Congo River, Beyond Darkness. In 2006, he and Guy Bomanyama-Zandu co-directed the drama Muswamba, about a teenage girl thrown onto the street and struggling to survive after being accused of sorcery. The film provides a strong moral message about the evils of child abuse. As part of a workshop led by Thierry De Mey of Charleroi Danses, he directed the 2007 documentary Cailloux (Pebbles) on informal economic enterprise in Kinshasa. Kabeya Muya worked with veteran documentary director Monique Mbeka Phoba on a project where a group of young theater students in Kinshasa learned how to make a film. This led to the 2008 documentary, Entre la coupe et l’élection (Between the Cup and the Election) about the first soccer team from Sub-Saharan Africa to participate in a FIFA World Cup, in 1974, co-produced by him and Mbeka Phoba. In April 2006, Kabeya Muya was severely beaten by armed men who threatened to kill him because of his relations with foreigners. In 2009, he received death threats for having worked on the film Katanga Business as assistant director to Thierry Michel. Monique Mbeka Phoba quickly mobilized an international campaign to ensure that the Congolese authorities extended their protection.
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