Venice Final Cut Winner Machérie Ekwa Bahango on ‘Madi Makambu’ and Why She Wants Congo to Be Seen: ‘We’re a Great Nation That Needs to Write Its Own History’

Machérie Ekwa Bahango wants Congo to be noticed by the industry.

“Through my films, I would like Congo to be seen as part of the world. Not for the labels people stick on it, but for what it really is,” she tells Variety.

“The subjects in my films are difficult, but they are issues that people face in the Congo. We’re a great nation that needs to write, and rewrite, our own history.”

In her upcoming film “Madi Makambu,” awarded Final Cut’s La Biennale di Venezia Prize at the Venice Film Festival, she focuses on two lovers, Madi and Djino. Their lives take a turn when Madi gives birth to a child that Djino is not the father of, after experiencing a denied pregnancy. Though she doesn’t want to care for the baby, she must confront her past.

Jurors Tareq Al-Ibrahim, Mariette Rissenbeek and Tamara Tatishvili said the project invites audiences to follow a “genuine and electrifying young female protagonist, trying to navigate the violence and social injustice that is her unchosen reality.”

“I’m inspired by my everyday life, and everything that’s happening around me. The topics of my films come to me naturally, as if they’re asking me to tell their story,” Ekwa Bahango says.

She has been talking about women since her short “Sema.”

“The process of creating that film and working with women who had survived rape and violence in the eastern part of my country made me realize that my cinema could be a voice for resilient and strong women.”

“When I look back at my first feature [‘Maki’la,’ which premiered at Berlinale], which was about children living on the streets, my understanding [of their situation] was still very limited at the time. Everything became clear through the female characters I developed.”

Ekwa Bahango is a self-taught filmmaker.

“The kind of cinema I want to make requires freedom and vulnerability. I think a film school would have certainly taken that away from me.”

She adds: “The challenge at the local level is primarily financial. It also stems from the fact that people aren’t yet aware of cinema’s strength and power. Many think that making films is just for fun and they don’t take us seriously. As a result, they don’t invest in us.”

Abroad, the world is still catching up with Congolese cinema, too.

“Particularly in the West, the challenge is to gain acceptance for this cinema, which doesn’t yet have a defined identity – and to accept it for what it is in its current form. There’s a tendency to expect one general model of African cinema, but Africa comprises more than 54 countries. Each of them has its own cinema. Little by little, we will get there.”

“Madi Makambu” is produced by CL1 D’oeil Studio and co-produced by Boucan Films.

“I live in a very intense society. We say: ‘Every day, we wake up to a new challenge’. My films aim to capture this unpredictability,” she says.

“The most beautiful thing we have in all of this, I think, is love. It’s what allows us to believe, be resilient and keep going. We need love in the Congo – and in the world. It’s the only thing that will soothe our sorrows.”

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