Keyword Congo - 3

In 2007, scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society discovered there were an estimated 125,000 western lowland gorillas living in the remote forests of northern Congo. This find offers another chance to protect this endangered great ape and a first look at some unprecedented behaviour – including a knack for using tools. Now primatologist and National Geographic explorer Mireya Mayor ventures into the heart of the jungle to explore the great apes’ secret world. She gets a rare and intimate look into the family life of one gorilla group and witnesses individuals performing feats unexpected in the wild. Spectacularly photographed and featuring new scientific insight, Mystery Gorilla presents startlingly familiar animals like you’ve never seen them before.

In June 2010, French actress Marion Cotillard spent a week in the heart of the tropical forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo with members of Greenpeace France and Greenpeace Africa. She delivers in video a strong testimony on the looting of Congolese forests which benefits a few industrial groups, often European.

A visual travel diary on the expedition led by Brondeel in 1934. This expedition to Belgian Congo, by truck, became a testimony to the social conditions of Africans during the colonial era.

An investigation of the emotional and economic value of Africa's most lucrative export: filmed poverty. Deep in the interiors of the Congo, Dutch artist Renzo Martens single-handedly undertakes an epic journey and launches an emancipatory program that helps the poor become aware of what is their primary capital resource: Poverty. After three years of traveling through the Democratic Republic of the Congo he asks the question: "Who owns poverty?

Deep within the dense jungle of the Congo Basin, people are bringing the once-deserted village of Lossi back to life. In the spirit of Jane Goodall's work with chimps, Explorer joins primatologist Magdalena Bermejo as she conducts groundbreaking research of the western lowland gorilla in its natural environment. Skilled local trackers help Bermejo and Illera look for clues in crushed leaves, half-eaten plant stems, and dung. The team is finally rewarded in an area less than two miles outside of Lossi, surrounded with ancestral eyes peering from the forest. Bermejo focuses her study on a magnificent 350-pound male she names Apollo and his family. Journey with Explorer into the heart of equatorial Africa to sit amidst swarms of sweat bees and stinging ants that would try the patience of the most dedicated biologists for an intimate view of a noble silverback and his tribe.

Some kids in Brussels play a game based upon objects that were brought back from the Congo and which were used during the Hutereau expedition.

“In the beginning, women lived apart, unaware of the existence of men. Until one day, when the first woman, Toli, who was brave and adventurous traveled deep into the forest. Toli discovered solitary creatures with big muscles who knew how to climb trees and harvest wild honey. When Toli tasted their honey, she thought they should all live together….” That is how one of the creation stories of the Aka people from the tropical rainforest of the Congo Basin goes. Akaya, Kengole, Dibota and their friends and family are hunters-gatherers (and also great story-tellers) who guide us through their world. They explain their origins, myths, and the very spiritual meaning of life.

A man performs the same ritual every day: he cleans his shoes, dresses up in his shiny blue suit, wears his white gloves and grey hat, and spends his time walking around Brazzaville. His presence generates an absurd apparition in the urban chaos of the city, which reflects the imaginary produced by one of the upmost icons of pop culture.

A young girl succumbs to the charm of a Don Juan who abandons her after having given her a child.

35 Cows and a Kalashnikov is a joyously made triptych about warrior-farmers, colorful dandies and voodoo wrestlers in Ethiopia, Brazzaville and Kinshasa. It paints a loving and attentive portrait of African pride and beauty.

A musical oddessy through the heart of Africa in search of the roots of Rock & Roll.

The plains of Africa have always been a hotbed of predator action, but lurking in its rivers is perhaps its most elusive killer: the Goliath tigerfish. Legends say they are man-eaters, that even crocodiles fear them. Locals call them "demon fish" but angling legend Andy Coetzee calls them something else: an obsession. He dives into the predator-infested Okavango Delta and the treacherous Congo River on a mission to finally land what is considered to be the hardest fish in the world to catch.

In the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, rape has been used as a weapon of war for more than 15 years. Martha writes a teenage girl’s guide to surviving sex slavery.

Documentary about African political leader Patrice Lumumba, who was Prime Minister of Zaire (now Congo) when he was assassinated in 1961.

In urban America, the bush of Africa, the war zone of the Congo, and in closed nations there are women who are living outside their own cultures, society, and comfort level to care for orphans, build schools, liberate addicts, feed the poor, and love the broken. These ordinary women are reaching into hopeless situations of people and creating hope.

The Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa is one of the world’s most resource-rich countries. A wide range of rare minerals can be found here in abundance, all commanding high prices in world commodity markets. Diamonds for jewellery, tantalum, tungsten and gold for electronics; uranium used in power generation and weaponry and many others. Congo has copious deposits of raw materials that are in high demand internationally but remains one of the poorest countries in the world. For our translator, Bernard Kalume Buleri, his country’s history of turmoil is very personal; like most Congolese people, he and his family fell victim to the unending mineral based power struggle. Born in the year of his country’s independence, he has lived through war and seen his homeland torn apart by violent looting and greed. His story is a damning testament, illustrating how nature’s bounty, instead of being a blessing, becomes a deadly curse.

When the neglected and unloved brother Mavungu finally leaves home, he finds a tree blocking the river and frees the people imprisoned within the tree. Based on a folk tale from the Congo.