Event

Friends of the Congo Present: "Lumumba" & discussion

Friends of the Congo Present:

Lumumba
Dir. Raoul Peck, 2000, 100 min.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the tragic assassination of Patrice Lumumba on January 17th, 1961 the Maysles Cinema presents, in partnership with Friends of the Congo, the true story of the rise to power and brutal assassination of the legendary leader of independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba. Made in the tradition of such true-life political thrillers as Malcolm X and JFK, Raoul Peck's award-winning Lumumba is a gripping epic that dramatizes for the first time the Lumumba's life. When the Congo declared its independence from Belgium in 1960, the 36-year-old, self-educated Lumumba became the first Prime Minister of the newly independent state. Called "the politico of the bush" by journalists of the day, he became a lightning rod of Cold War politics as his vision of a united Africa gained him powerful enemies in Belgium and the U.S. Lumumba would last just months in office before being brutally assassinated. Strikingly photographed in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Belgium as civil war once again raged in the Congo, the film vividly re-creates the shocking events behind the birth of the country that became Zaire during the reign of Lumumba's former friend and eventual nemesis, Joseph Mobutu.

Screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Kambale Musavuli (Friends of the Congo) and Lubangi Muniania (Tabilulu Productions)