Machérie Ekwa Bahango

Machérie Ekwa Bahango
Machérie Ekwa Bahango at the Carthage Film Festival
Born1993
Kisangani, Tshopo provence, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Alma materProtestant University
OccupationFilm director
Years active2014-present

Machérie Ekwa Bahango (born 1993) is a filmmaker from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[1] Her first feature film Maki’la premiered at the Berlinale 2018.[2] Her movie Sema advocated for women's rights and thematised the issue of sexual violence.[3] It won an award as "Best International Film" at the DC Independent Film Festival 2020 in Washington.[4]

Life

Machérie Ekwa Bahango was born in Kisangani. After school she went to university and received a degree in law at the Protestant University in the Congo.[5] As a student she participated in workshops for screenplay and film production.[6][7]

Career

In 2014 Congolese film production company Labson Bizizi Ciné-Kongo hired Machérie Ekwa Bahango as a production manager and as an interviewer.

In 2016 she was a screenwriter for the French language TV series Ndakisa.[8] Produced by the NGO Search for Common Ground, Ndakisa was aired on Congolese national television.[9]

In 2017 she translated for Alain Gomis his script for his 2017 film Félicité into her native language Lingala .[2]

Also in 2017 she was invited to the Cannes Film Festival for a round table under the helm of the OIF and the Institut Français. At the end of 2017 she received invitations from the Berlin International Film Festival for the Berlinale Talents.[10]

Her first feature film Mak’ila as was about an orphan forced to fend for herself on the streets of Kinshasa. It was stalled in post-production for lack of funds until Alain Modot, of the International Distribution of Films and Fiction from Africa (DIFFA), gained backing from Orange Studio in Paris.[2] Mak’ila won her the Golden Screen award at the 2018 Ecrans Noirs film festival.[11]

Her second feature film told the story of a family during the Second Congo War. It was announced under the title Zaïria in 2019.[12][13] Yet due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic all her projects came then to a halt and contacts to some production partners faded away.[14]

In 2020 the 48-minute film Sema was released. It was based on an idea by Denis Mukwege, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018.[15]

In 2022 she was among the 20 shortlisted candidates selected by Netflix and UNESCO to take part in the short film competition ‘African Folktales, Reimagined’.[16][17]

Filmography

Title Year Film producer Writer Director Notes
Maki'la[18] 2018 No Yes Yes Bahango met with street children of Kinshasa and based the script on what they told her about their lives [2]
Zaïria[12] 2019 No Yes Yes Dedicated to the victims of wars in Africa. Unfinished.
Sema (Speak out)[19] 2020 No No Yes Bahango directed real survivors of sexual violence who re-enacted their fates as written down by themselves [20]
Boyoma[21] 2022 No Yes Yes documentary film in development

See also

References

  1. ^ "Machérie EKWA Director, Screenwriter". Berlinale Talents. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d "Berlin: Director Bahango Hopes to Inspire Congolese Women to Pick Up Cameras". Variety. February 16, 2018. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  3. ^ "Sema (Speak Out)". dciff-indie.org. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  4. ^ "DCIFF 2020 Award Winners". DC Independent Film Festival. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  5. ^ "Machérie EKWA BAHANGO DRC". ouicoprod.org. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  6. ^ "MAKI'LA". Carthage Film Festival Homepage. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  7. ^ "Maki'la". arsenal-berlin.de/en. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  8. ^ "Ndakisa". berlinale-talents.de. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  9. ^ "RESTORING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SECURITY FORCES AND CIVILIANS IN THE EASTERN DRC". sfcg.org. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  10. ^ "43rd Cairo International Film Festival". Cairo International Film Festival. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  11. ^ Patricia Ngo Ngouem, Qui est Machérie Ekwa Bahango, l'Ecran d'Or 2018?, Ici Cameroun, 23 July 2018.
  12. ^ a b "Zairia" (PDF). Cinéfondation. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
  13. ^ "Zairia". Berlinale Talents. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
  14. ^ "Africa's artists during COVID". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  15. ^ "Berlin: SEMA (Press Kit)" (PDF). mukwegefoundation.org. Retrieved April 8, 2022.
  16. ^ "Netflix, UNESCO reveal African shorts list". contentnigeria.net. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  17. ^ "Top 20 Emerging Filmmakers Shortlisted For Netflix & UNESCO's African Folktales, Reimagined Competition". African Business. February 2, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  18. ^ "Mak'ila". africanfilmdatabase.com. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  19. ^ "Sema". mukwegefoundation.org. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  20. ^ "Congolese rape survivors re-enact trauma in new film". Reuters. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  21. ^ "Boyoma". wooozpictures.com. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
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