Tongo Saa by Nelson Makengo
- HD video, color, 16:9
- 96 min.
- 2024
- DRC/BE/DE/BF/QA
- Lingala spoken (EN, FR, NL st)
- Writer-director Nelson Makengo
- Assistant director Isaac Sahani Dato
- Cinematography Nelson Makengo
- Editing Inneke Van Waeyenberghe
- Sound Moimi Wezam
- Sound Design Franck Moka
- Sound Edit Laszlo Umbreit
- Mix Rémi Gérard
- Producers Dada Kahindo and Rosa Spaliviero
- Coproducers Florian Schewe, Michel K. Zongo, Marie Logie, Samuel Feller
- Production managers Rosa Spaliviero, Juliette Hourçourigaray, Isaac Sahani Dato, Hélène Ballis
Darkness falls over Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and its 17 million inhabitants. It is just before Christmas and people are struggling to gain access to electric light. Kudi is mobilising the residents of his Kisenso neighbourhood to collect money for a new power cable. On Mount Mangengenge, a holy place overlooking the city, Pastor Gédéon delivers a sermon about the light of Christ as the path to life and truth. Davido is searching for a place to stay after his house was flooded by the Congo River. Together with other young men, he kills time by working out and dreams of a better future.
Tongo Saa is a sensitive portrait of the residents of Kinshasa as they face the challenges of life in an environment plagued by violence and coloured by the uncertainty of tomorrow.
Kinshasa et ses habitants vivent dans l'obscurité. Ils attendent et luttent pour avoir accès à la lumière. Entre espoir, déception et foi religieuse, Tongo Saa est un portrait subtil et fragmenté d'une population qui, malgré les défis, est sublimée par la beauté des nuits de Kinshasa.
Produced by
Twenty Nine Studio & Production
Mutotu Productions
Coproduction : Film Five, Diam Productions, Auguste Orts, Magellan Films, RTBF
Supported by
Bourse Brouillon d’un rêve documentaire SCAM, France
Atelier Dérives, Belgium
Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds, Belgium
Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Belgium
Tax Shelter du Gouvernement Fédéral de Belgique
Fonds Image de la Francophonie, France
Fonds Jeune Création Francophone, Burkina Faso
World Cinema Fund, Germany
IDFA Bertha Fund Classics, The Netherlands
IDFA Bertha Fund Europe, The Netherlands
Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, USA
The Atlas Workshops - Marrakech International Film Festival, Morocco
Hot Docs Blue lce Docs Fund, Canada
Doha Film Institute
Sales agent
Square Eyes Film