CinemAfrica: Maki’la

Directed by Machérie Ekwa Bahango, CD, 79 min., Lingala with English subtitles

This debut film of the 25 years old Machérie Ekwa Bahango premiered at Berlinale, offering a non-compromising view on life in the streets of Kinashasa. It follows Maki’la, a young woman exhausted of her husband – an always drunk boss of a gang of thieves – who decides to leave him.

She meets Acha, teaches her to steal and together they try to survive – and not give a chance for revenge to her husband. A dramatic story showing street life authenticity and talking about loneliness, patriarchy and determination to survive in the contemporary Democratic Republic of Congo.

Realised in cooperation with the French Institute.