Power To the Imagination

Tshoper Kabambi, born 1985, is an entrepreneur and head pioneer of film making in the Democratic Republic of Congo—a place without active cinemas. While working as a "fixer" for foreign visitors to the Congo and helping his parents run their shop, Kabambi also initiated a filmmaking program in Kinshasa and formed a production company, training potential filmmakers free of charge and organizing an annual film festival. He has not only made award-winning films but has trained many other Congolese, whose films have also won prizes. He and his team met for years at his home on the nights (once weekly) when electricity was scheduled to power phones and laptop computers. He understands the need for reliable energy in fully launching any industries in the DR-Congo. He heads this initiative to harness power through solar generators and panels and thus to catalyze creative power through art and film.

The world has seen film industries launch multiple businesses in Africa. Nigeria's film industry is thriving. The DR-Congo, the poorest country on the continent, has a nascent film industry with one impediment: the scarcity of reliable energy. For years, the Bimpa film team met according to weekly-scheduled electricity. Batteries for lights, projectors, cameras, etc. all require an energy source for charging. Therefore, projects were delayed and often abandoned. Potential filmmakers left their dreams because of this impediment--and because there was no profit in the film industry, which didn't exist.

We propose a solar powered film and community center. As the team launches film in Congo, the solar generators in a central location will power a film studio, a cinema, a workshop center for film training, and accompanying businesses.

Creative power opens the path to our elevation. It also lets us tell our own story to inspire ourselves and the world.

More than 1 billion people live in energy poverty without access to reliable,  affordable large-scale power. 84 million of them are in the Democratic Republic of Congo, currently listed as the poorest nation on earth. In Kinshasa, where we will build our pilot solar-powered film program, there are 12 million people. Several hundred will be directly affected by this solar community system for the film industry and accompanying businesses, and thousands will benefit.

We thus bind the power of the sun with the power of imagination as we host and train filmmakers and provide space and renewable energy for them to establish their own businesses.  

This solar community system is centered on solar generators and panels. They will power two editing bays, a fully equipped studio with cameras, lighting, blue screen, a training center, and a movie theater with excellent speakers. We intend this project to set the pattern for other solar community systems in the DRC. 

Ultimately, we intend to take the power of narrative to tell our own story, to show the beauty of our country and its people, to confront the misrepresentation we find in international cinema whenever the Congo is concerned, and to dignify our people.

We tool our filmmakers and associated entrepreneurs with renewable, reliable energy to access internet and run all equipment, including high wattage lights. We go beyond the solar power, however, and into creative power as we organize this community into a film and art mecca with a goal of becoming an internationally renowned film center where filmmakers throughout the world can get a quality education in film at an affordable price. We also provide space for businesses to help the filmmakers support themselves.

The solar generators (three for the film studio itself, one for the workshop center, and one to power remaining rooms including the editing bay, the theater, and associated businesses) will be open to anyone who wants to learn about film. Applications and a small tuition will be required of Congolese students. The tuition will be larger for international students, but the program will be affordable for all. Filmmakers will be able to rent equipment and may sign up for help with editing. Screenwriting classes will help hone the scripts, and all students will be involved in analyzing and evaluating films from all over the world submitted to the Fickin Film Festival.

We intend to found Collywood.

Many in the Congo live in severe poverty. Not only are their economic resources limited but their creativity is often blocked.
When a sampling of Congolese people was asked about their most basic desires, most responded that they wanted enough electricity to power a light source for their home and also a television set.
Why television?
The ability to watch sports, dramas, and news provides not only distraction  but communal gathering and conversation. As people gather to watch a film--either on a television screen or in a theater--they are participating in a communal dream which can elevate all. They receive communal inspiration.

Additionally, as Congolese filmmakers tell Congolese stories, the perception of the Congo will naturally change. A google search on the Democratic Republic of Congo will prompt images of war and disease. This is not who we are.

We envision our pilot project as the starting point for solar power distribution throughout the country and the beginning of an internationally renowned film center. We do not wish to be considered a violent, disease-ridden country  but a place of beauty where quality films are made and where the people help each other attain mutually edifying goals.

We have worked with international companies whose goals have been laudable. However, most of these companies' projects were sidelined because of corruption in the Congo. Supplies have been stolen and trucks have been permanently detained at the border.

We are familiar with the common use of bribery and the mindset of many which lets them steal or impede others. Our team does not participate in such. Additionally, our community system includes a security guard station. More importantly, it nurtures an elevated vision of who we are. We work towards dignity and service through our center and throughout the Congo.

The first film I saw was on a neighbor's television when I was seven years old. I saw it through a door crack. I decided right then that I would make films. This was not realistic, given the poverty of my country.

As I worked towards learning about film and establishing a film industry in the Congo, I faced one major obstacle: There was no reliable electricity. Internet had to be purchased but was only accessible when there was power. Working with a team of friends who also wanted to make movies, I pursued online education. My friends and I could connect only occasionally. We persevered, however, and one of my early films won a major award in Belgium. Few in the Congo could see my film, however, because we had no theaters. I could show films in my home--if I had adequate electricity to power a projector and speakers.

Eventually, my friends and I formed Bimpa Production and began teaching each other how to make and edit films. Each one of us rejoices when another's films win awards, which happens often now. The future must include cinemas to showcase our work and reliable energy to sustain it.

A few filmmakers have emerged in the Congo, but they have re-located either to Belgium or to the USA. One filmmaker tried to offer training, but potential students could not afford to leave work. Eventually, all students dropped out of the program.

Our team members love our country and want to improve it rather than relocating ourselves. 

For the most part, films about the Congo depict us as savages who are generally at war. Violence has blighted our country, but we are a peace-loving people--perhaps especially because of the violence we've seen. Our country is beautiful, but rarely shown as beautiful in films. Even the film about our first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, was filmed in Belgium and Mozambique because the Congo was judged too unstable. Foreign filmmakers have declined to film in the Congo because of our lack of infrastructure.

With power generators and growing businesses associated with the film industry, we can remake our country's image. Indeed, our country can become a mecca for quality films and an affordable training center for filmmakers throughout the world.

As we address economic and creative poverty in the Congo, we also illuminate a path for other poor countries.

I introduced a film making program to the National Institute of Arts fifteen years ago. From there, I formed a production company, film workshops, and an annual festival. My team and I were able to not only self-train through books and the internet (when we could access it), but to learn from others in their countries.

I didn't step inside an actual cinema until I was in my twenties and went to Paris for further training. As we developed the quality of our films, I worked with Senegalese, German, and Belgian filmmakers and honed my instincts. In 2017, I came to the USA for two months and worked in an American studio. While in the USA, I visited the Goal Zero solar lighting company and learned about the potential of solar generators. In 2020, I came to the United States again when the film we made in the Congo ("Heart of Africa") was released. I arrived in Los Angeles on February 15th to participate in the PanAfrican Film Festival. Our film premiered on March 13 and became the number one foreign film in the USA for a few days--until Covid-19 shut theaters. I am still waiting for the Kinshasa Airport to re-open.

While here, I met with the Ironwood Company (specializing in solar power grids) and saw the potential for providing solar energy to an entire community. They are familiar with the challenges of doing business in the Congo and have experience in moving past the obstacles.

We are ready.

When I began my first film in 2010, I rented a camera. As I was filming, a policeman approached and demanded to see my "permission to film" paper. I did not have one. He confiscated my camera and put me into jail. I was with hardened criminals and had no idea of when or if I would be released. I could not contact my family to let them know where I was. For two days, I lived with the rancid smells of the jail (people relieved themselves in the jail itself) and with new despair.

I was finally released and went home, unable to even speak about what I had just been through. For a moment, I thought I would give up on film. I told my friend that I was discouraged. He said, "Who would you be without this dream? You have always wanted to make films. You can't stop."
It took only a second for me to return to my dream--and to work harder than before.

My experience can be a metaphor for how others of my country and elsewhere can be inspired to hold to their dreams and find a way out of any kind of bondage.

At age eighteen, I attended the National Institute for Arts in Kinshasa, hoping to learn about film there. On the first day of class, our professor asked each of us what we intended to do. I answered that I wanted to make films. Everyone laughed. The professor, Elbas Manuana, said, "You're poor.  Only rich people make films."

I did not relent. At my street-vendor job, someone gave me a TV/VCR set. Video tapes could play on the television when we had electricity.

I decided to use this TV set to teach myself and my classmates about film. Every day, I would walk to the National Institute of Arts with the TV/VCR in my arms. It was several kilometers. We would insert a video tape, watch a movie, and then discuss it. This was the beginning.

Soon, my classmates raised money so that I could rent a taxi when I brought the television.

In February 2020, my film "Heart of Africa" premiered at a cultural center in Kinshasa. My professor, Elbas Manuana, played one of the leads. He attended the premiere and said after the film, "I can die in peace now. You've done it. You've made a full-length, real film."

As filmmakers in a country which lost its cinemas thirty years ago, we have had to be resourceful.  If a scene called for rain, we had to invent a rain machine from available commodities (which we did). We had to schedule our team meetings when electricity was available. We often lost our work while exporting files because the internet would shut down.

Solar power is not new, but the mini grid or power station is new in its capacity to power large areas.

Frankly, though, our major innovations are the films we're making and will continue to make. They are the new stories we are telling and will tell in the future. Each filmmaker will bring his or her own vision to the work.

Film can address any social issue. We can look at gender issues, for example, with the ability to start important conversations. Film and the dialogues which come after that "communal dream" go beyond a textbook presentation or an orchestrated moment.

One of our members, Deborah Bassa, made a short film last year about women facing poverty and the cost of education. (Education is not free in the Congo.) All who saw the film could relate to it and thus were inspired to tell their own stories. The conversation evolved.

Film invites audiences to re-frame assumptions and to consider new ideas. Our films (each an innovation) will invite the Congolese to look at the country again with an eye to its possibilities.

The DR-Congo is in post-war trauma, listed as the poorest country on earth. Attempts to install productive industries have often failed because of the prolific survival mentality which accommodates theft and bribery. Therefore, an industry which is not only profitable but which encourages a change in mentality is required.

The USA saw film emerge as a major industry during the Great Depression. That is no coincidence. People in economic hardship needed what films provided--diversion, laughter, communal conversation. In Nigeria, innovative filmmakers started "Nollywood," which now produces about fifty movies per week. The industry generates $590 million dollars annually in Nigeria. Spurred by these examples, we believe that the film industry is precisely the one to elevate and empower the Congo.

Given the poverty of the nation, however, there is one obstacle to overcome before the industry can be self-sustaining: energy.

Film is re-emerging in the Congo, but all filmmakers are impeded by the lack of reliable power in the country.

Our solution for the first step of establishing a permanent and fully equipped film center is a solar station comprising multiple solar generators and panels. This station powers the pilot film training center, editing bay, and cinema for all who want to participate in and accelerate the film industry.

The buildings to be used in this initial step comprise a three-story, twenty-room former school and a neighboring three story building with large rooms to be used for lectures and training. A booth for security guards is also attached.

The desired result of our efforts:

1) Filmmakers can receive training and rent equipment for their projects.

2) We will open more film centers as the industry grows.

3) We will invite international students to enroll in our training at an affordable cost, and will expand the reach of cinema throughout the country.

4) Film will also rehabilitate our international image. We will film places like Lomami and Lomela, where unique animals live, to invite the world to visit our beautiful nation.

5) We will show the power of a solar power center and the power of the imagination.

Current: 300

Because there are no cinemas in the Congo and our film program is in its infancy, only a small number of people have seen our films. When we premiered "Heart of Africa," we got a large audience into a cultural center in Kinshasa. It was a breakthrough moment. However, we are still at the threshold of what this industry will be and mean.

One year: 5000 people

In 2020, we could show "Heart of Africa" in Kinshasa for only two days because of the high rental fees associated with the cultural center. However, when we have our own theater inside the compound, we need not pay rent.

With the cinema included in our film center, we anticipate hosting theatrical runs of Congolese films, long and short, for large audiences on a weekly basis.  Admission will be affordable for all. Wealthy people might still enjoy films on television, but we are certain they will love films made by their fellow Congolese in the Congo and in their own language. Poor people will be able to participate in the film growth because our showings will be affordable.

Five years: 50000+ people

Within five years, we will be able to set up cinemas throughout the Congo, even open air ones. We will have established the film industry. Our center will provide rentable equipment and training for potential filmmakers. We will have demonstrated the power of a solar grid. We will have many films to show to our growing audiences.

We intend to re-invent the image of the Congo and to use our cinema center (eventually cinema centers) as training schools for Congolese and international students to learn the art of film with affordable tuition and available power and equipment. These students will help evaluate the films submitted to our festival and will get experience in all aspects of filmmaking. We will award diplomas to those who fulfill the requirements.

We intend film to catalyze other industries as well, particularly the arts. We envision a fully equipped arts-based university with gardens, galleries, and theaters.

We have already successfully filmed in the poorest villages of the Congo in the deep forest of Sankuru. Even there, older people had memories of cinemas and recalled loving to attend before the film industry died. They are eager to see movies again.

Within five years, we will be able to power simple cinemas in the poorest places and open business opportunities for many villagers. They would protect the projector and speakers and be compensated by ticket sales.

People who want to sell concessions or food would also have business opportunities open up.

Within five years, with our team growing and our studentbody comprising people from all over the world, we do intend to be Collywood.

We are well acquainted with barriers to success in the Congo. This entire proposal centers on the lack of sustainable energy and how to overcome that. More important yet is the prevalence of theft and the wide acceptance of bribery in the Congo. There are reasons why many industries have failed.

1) With a survival mentality, common in the Congo, life is lived only one day at a time without a vision of what will or might happen in a decade, what goals can be attained. Therefore, many people create only short-term plans and lack the skills to plan well. Without a good plan and cooperation, businesses fail.

2) Corruption: Several companies from outside the Congo have quit investing in our country because the supplies they sent were either stolen or permanently detained at the border as guards requested bribes. The problem, in a word, is corruption.

3) Students: A previous film program founded by Djo Munga failed because students couldn't afford to leave work to attend. We need to address the economic realities of our associates' lives, since film is not yet an established industry in our country.

4) Transportation: It is expensive to go to the most desirable places for filming. Roads are bad and so cars sustain many flat tires and damage. In places like Lomela and Lomami (sanctuaries), there are no roads. In addition, flights to nearby airports are costly--about $800 round trip from Kinshasa.

Overcoming the barriers:

1) Survival mentality:

The training in our film center includes instruction in planning, since a film must go through certain steps to be realized. Our goal with each filmmaker is to help them move from conception to realization. Cooperation, not competition, is vital.

2) Corruption:

We  have a solution now for importing the solar energy equipment, inasmuch as our supplier (inergy tech) has a contract with China to get the material directly to the Congo. Inergy Tech has already successfully worked in the Congo over the past seven years.

Interestingly, several Congolese have declared that they want to make films about corruption. There is a moral reckoning happening in our country now, and film is the ideal medium to further it.

Furthermore, all filmmakers and students in our center will need to sign an "honor code"--an acceptance of certain behaviors and mores we expect. We intend our center to be an oasis of integrity.

3) Addressing economic needs in our students:Our center will include business opportunities for students and nighttime classes to accommodate those who must work during the day.

5) Transportation issues:
Initially, we will need to accept the reality of bad roads and simply provide a budget for vehicle repair. Ultimately, though, we will work with other partners to get roads built which can then literally pave the way for a tourist industry, which does not yet exist in the Congo. The tourist industry itself will provide employment to many and provide money to cover transportation.

We work with Congo Rising (www.congorising.org), which has donated film equipment and money to pay the actors and crew. The film they helped us produce won many awards and had a release in the USA--the first Congolese film to have that. Though theaters were shut by COVID-19, our film was the #1 foreign film in the USA at the time the doors closed. It will be released on DVD in July 2020.

Congo Rising continues to support our efforts. We are currently working together on a film about Patrice Lumumba (the first prime minister of the Independent Congo) which we will shoot in his home village and partly in his native dialect. We have already filmed near his natal village and therefore know exactly what equipment and how many crew members we will need. We anticipate that this film will get global attention, since Lumumba was a global hero to many.

For solar equipment, we work with Inergy Tech (www.inergytek.com). We are starting with solar generators and panels, but as we find greater success, we intend to implement a solar mini grid to support a whole community which will include an arts-based university and a full studio with a sound stage and reusable sets.

We have also received support from the Institut Francais in the Congo. They have donated funds for us to hold our annual film festival. We anticipate that they will continue to do this.

Our first target community comprises the filmmakers themselves. They, working in mutual support and cooperation, become the catalysts for change throughout the country. It is easier to propel a moving object with appropriate fuel than to stir an inert object. All team members are expected to be proactive.

After we establish our industry, we move beyond our pilot center and into simple cinemas throughout the Congo.

Ultimately, we intend to found an art-based university will a large film studio worthy of hosting filmmakers from around the world. As we build this university, we will open a film and entrepreneurs' community and go beyond solar generators and panels to a mini solar power grid, capable to keeping the entire community suppled with energy.

The second target community for the time being is the poor of Kinshasa. Our center will not be in a rich area of the city, but in Limite Industriel, where the population is dense and often poor. We intend to invite them to see films for only a little money. The older residents have memories of seeing films before Mobutu's regime unraveled the cinema industry.

Ultimately, we intend to establish not just a film center but the entire film industry with many satellites throughout the Congo. We will happily support others who are inspired by our model. We intend to support the building of open-air cinemas in the poorest places and full cinemas with concessions and associated businesses in the wealthier areas.

We intend to change the world.

Solar power: The company we work with, Inergy Tech, is a profit-making company based in the USA with international connections. Its CEO has already established successful businesses in the Congo and understands the challenges any business faces in our country. Inergy Tek has investment plans and specializes in in impact investment, meaning that investors may invest not necessarily to make a profit but to be a change agent in an underserved community. Therefore, the solar component of our plan will often include international investing.

The film center: Initial expenses will be recouped by the small tuition of students, ticket sales to the cinema, and rentals of film equipment by filmmakers. We can also rent solar power, meaning that anyone can pay a small sum to charge phones, laptops, etc.

Films: We are currently working on a film about our first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, to be filmed partly in his natal village and his natal language. We have applied for financial support from the World Cinema Fund, the Francophone Institute, and the CNC (Centre National du Cinema) in France. Many individual films will get support from institutions in Europe which specialize in helping African ventures.

At this point, we have an immediate plan and a long-term plan, which will include investments and grants. Therefore, we will include donations, grants, investments, products and services, and the fact that a growing economy founded in the film center will improve the standard of living for all.

We have raised funds for our films through crowd-funding, donations, and ticket sales. These funds were raised through Congo Rising (www.congorising.org) .

Over the past five years, Congo Rising received grants from Tiefie Corporation, the Sorenson Legacy Foundation, and the Bennion Foundation.

Office space for our protypical studio was donated by the ALI (American Language Institution) language Center in Kinshasa. In exchange for the space, we created publicity films for ALI on demand.

Over the past twelve months, Congo Rising raised funds exclusively by donation.

We seek $500,000. to establish our film center with all solar generators and accompanying supplies, all film equipment, and a cinema space designed within in an existing structure. The compound includes this former school (photograph attached), a second building which we will use for training workshops, a security station, and large swaths of property to the east and behind the school. The property may house larger cinemas or study centers.

This school was run by ALI, but they relocated to a rich area of Kinshasa one month ago. We will need to lease or purchase the property.

We depend on grants and donations made to Congo Rising or investments made with InergyTek. We have successfully used crowdfunding in the past and will do so again.

We anticipate these costs:
$100,000. for all solar generators, panels, and converters.

$100,000. for all editing equipment, cameras, lenses, blue screen, and needed software for editing and animation.

$20,000. to fully furnish the cinema on the ground floor of the main structure. It is already equipped with functioning bathrooms, a front counter which can serve as a ticket purchasing area, and an equipped kitchen which can provide space for sellers to prepare and merchandise concessions and food.

$80,000.for a long-term lease of the compound

$200,000. to support filming projects (including transportation) in various areas of the Congo as we seek to show our country in its best light. This includes filming in our animal sanctuaries. We anticipate that the tourist industry will follow the film industry.

For the year 2021, we will need $150,000.

Some costs which would apply to other countries do not apply to us. We do not have a functional postal system in the Congo so we need not cover postage. Communication is done by internet, so we must pay a small sum to access it. The solar energy which is part of our plan makes internet access possible.

Staff:
Accounting: $5,000/year
Film work: $15,000 /year

Film team members (camera operators, editors, lighting specialists, sound engineers, SFX specialists, DOP, catering): $15,000. This may seem like a terribly low amount for the work expected. It is commensurate with expectations in the Congo, however.

When we began our work, we imagined the costs of a feature film to be about $12,000--which seemed huge. The feature film we completed actually cost about $200,000 (raised by Congo Rising) and all participants were paid according to contracts. Cameras and lights were donated as a part of that sum.

We do not yet provide salaries to ourselves or our workers, but pay according to the job. All filmmakers in Congo have second jobs. In the future, we will provide salaries as the industry grows.

Cinema within the compound: $20,000. This includes remodels to accommodate cinema seating, two high-quality projectors, and two high-quality speakers.

Internet use: $1,000/year

Food for students and concessions: $9,000/year

Solar power equipment: $100,000. Permanent.

This amount covers shipping and set-up.

We have long believed that money alone will not solve our country's problems. Money is easily diverted, stolen, or spent in unproductive ways. Though we are arguably the richest country on earth in natural resources, we are currently the poorest in the GDP index. Money has been hoarded or stolen rather than fairly distributed. Money must be attached to not only a solid budget but a plan--usually activated not by an individual but a team. We are establishing a real plan to move our country to greatness.

The name of this prize--The Elevate Prize--describes exactly what we are doing in the Congo. We are elevating our population. We have long realized that films have the power to change the economy and the mindset, that any use of imagination is a rehearsal of resourcefulness, but we have not had a path to fully opening the industry. The power center provides that path. As we establish film centers and associated businesses, the economy of our country improves and the industries grow. We are all elevated.

The timing of this prize is particularly interesting. In Belgium, the statue of Leopold II was just taken down. As part of the Black Lives Matter campaign, many are questioning the global reminders of African slavery and genocide. In this particular moment, we apply for the Elevate Prize as we attempt to reclaim our own narrative. It has been appropriated for centuries. We cannot effectively tell our stories without help and a reliable power source.

We would appreciate mentoring in any area.

The team at Ironwood (inergytek.com), with whom we're partnered, knows the Congo and knows solar power. They are not filmmakers, but they can open a path for our indigenous filmmakers not just to make movies but to have successful careers in film and thus inspire others and generate more businesses.

We work with Congo Rising and would love to work with other humanitarian organizations based in Africa. We have researched possibilities and have learned that English-speaking countries have more grant possibilities than French-speaking ones, and that the richer countries have more opportunities because they have better infrastructure. The eastern part of our country--the Kivu area--gets more attention than the rest of the Congo because of the current instability there.

We would love to work with Engage Now Africa (https://engagenowafrica.org), which has opened a university in Ghana and worked effectively in Sierra Leon, Namibia, and Uganda; with Families Mentoring Families (https://www.familiesmentoringf... ) based in Ghana, Interweave Solutions, which has worked to help entrepreneurs establish profitable businesses in the Congo (https://interweavesolutions.org), and with Choice Humanitarian ( https://www.choicehumanitarian.org )
Of course, we would also be happy to work with UNICEF and USAID as well. We would also love to work with film-based organizations such as the World Cinema Fund and the CNC, both based in Europe, or French-speaking Canadian organizations. At some point, we would be grateful if some of our filmmakers could receive additional training at Berlinale, Institut Francais, TIFF, and Sundance.