Democratic Republic of the Congo and Belgium / 2014 / 24mins / Drama / Lingala, Kikongo and French

In the colonial Congo of the 50’s, Godelive, a young Congolese, who was taught traditional customs by Mama Koko, her grandmother, is pulled away from this universe and sent to a Catholic boarding school in Mbanza-Mboma. In this first French speaking school for Congolese schoolgirls, she is being westernized following the wishes of her parents. But the memory of her grandmother intervenes.

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