Rising up at Night
Spring Grants 2023 - Post-Production Stage
Nelson Makengo / Feature Documentary / Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Belgium, Germany, Burkina Faso, Qatar / 2024 / 96 min / Original Language: Lingala / Interests: Documentary
Synopsis
Kinshasa, the capital city of 17 million people, is plunged into darkness and insecurity as its inhabitants struggle to access the light. In a relentless quest, Kudi mobilizes the people of his neighborhood, Kisenso, to buy the stolen cable so that electricity can be restored in time for the festivities. At Christmas, Kudi turns into Santa Claus. Flashes of light and hope illuminate the streets of Kinshasa.On Mount Mangengenge, a sacred site, Pastor Gédéon preaches the light of Christ as the way to faith and light. Meanwhile, young Davido is looking for shelter after his house was flooded by the Congo River. He kills time by working out and waiting for the river to recede from his neighborhood. Between hope and religious faith, Tongo Saa is a subtle, fragmented portrait of a population that, despite the challenges, is reinventing itself in an environment marked by violence, coloured by the uncertainty of tomorrow and immersed in the beauty of Kinshasa’s nights.
Credits
- Director
- Nelson Makengo
- Screenwriter
- Nelson Makengo
- Producer
- Rosa Spaliviero, Dada Kahindo
- Production Company
- Twenty Nine Studio & Production , Mutotu Production, in coproduction with: Film Five, Diam, Auguste Orts, Magellan Films , RTBF
About the Director
Nelson Makengo is a filmmaker whose work oscillates between contemporary art and film. His latest film Up at Night (Best Short IDFA 2019) has screened at over 100 festivals worldwide and has been nominated by the BFI as one of the 350 best films of 2020. E’ville (2018) won the Sharjah Art Foundation Award at the Videobrasil Biennale in 2019. In recent years, Nelson Makengo has collaborated as a director with Al Jazeera and Meta, has been a jury member of several festivals and is a Sundance Documentary Film Institute and Doha Film Institute Fellow. Tongo Saa (Rising up at night) is his first feature documentary.