Congo Rising Corporation

The word "elevate" is the perfect description of our efforts. We work in the nation which Focus Economics lists as the poorest on earth--the DR-Congo. The country has declined since its 1960 independence. We agree with modern scholars, however, that the DR-Congo is "ready to turn the page." We are prepared to support and catalyze that.

Our emphasis is in empowering the Congolese to tell their own stories as written histories, photographs/art, and films. With the winnings, we will equip a film studio in Kinshasa and provide a solar grid with cabled panels and inverters to support the filmmakers' needs and their entrepreneurships. We will also provide screens and projectors to their film festival. 

Additionally, we will purchase more printers and ink for printing the life stories of the 500,000 people in the Lodja area and continue teaching them to bind and illustrate their own books. The poorest schools surrounding Lodja have no books but do have the resources to bind books (cardboard, glue, fabric). We will also provide solar power to this area and spur art possibilities throughout the poorest regions, as well encouraging the recognition and celebration of the indigenous art which already exists.

I was born to a linguist father and an adventurous mother and spent years in rural central America. I learned about the challenges and history of the Congo in 2010 from a Congolese friend and traveled there in 2014 to attend his wedding. In Kinshasa, I met Tshoper Kabambi, who had independently made award-winning films--though there were no cinemas or formal training for filmmakers. I knew a screenwriter who had gone to Kinshasa to teach her craft. The classes failed because the students couldn't afford to be in school when their families depended on their paychecks. A Belgian filmmaker tried to establish filmmaking at an arts institute, but gave up when the lack of reliable power meant that his files could not successfully export. 

We established Congo Rising in 2018 and looked at every resource in the Congo which could bridge the gaps. No books? We would create them and teach young authors how to bind their own histories with accessible cardboard, glue, and fabric. No art? We would create color with food coloring or herbs. No reliable energy? We would establish a solar power grid. No jobs for nascent filmmakers? We would establish entrepreneurships. We would support Congolese cinema.

We address cultural ELEVATION in two regions of the DR-Congo--Kinshasa (the capital) and Lodja with its outlying villages, including some of the most poverty-stricken on the planet. 

We work with the University of Science and Technology in Lodja to provide a way for poor villagers to receive higher education. The university rector has sold his personal property to erect 40 dorms for villagers (men and women) which require lighting and internet connection. We are committed to solar power and plan to get a power grid with cables and inverters to this area (www.inergytek.com). People affected: 500,000.

In Kinshasa, our focus is on the film business as the means to establish a sustainable, profitable industry and, more importantly, to re-imagine and represent the Congo as the great and beautiful nation it is. When we began our work, no cinemas existed.  Bimpa Production produced an annual film festival, attended by about 30 people. We put the festival on Film Freeway. For the 2021 edition, there are already 150 submissions from all over the world. We believe that this festival will eventually become the Cannes of Africa. 

There is a cinema in Kinshasa now, and  plans for many open-air theaters.

The words most frequently associated with the DR-Congo are crisis, rape, war, violence, and poverty. Currently, the U.S. State department urges Americans to "reconsider travel" to the DRC because of "COVID-19, crime, civil unrest and Ebola." 

Such descriptors are accurate, but represent only one part of the true character of the country. Before the DR-C can enjoy the benefits of tourism and other industries, as other African nations do, its reputation must be rehabilitated. Prospective travelors and investors need to see the potential and  beauty more than the danger of the country. Obviously, this means that  efforts to curb violence and corruption must continue. Our mission, however, is to re-envision the Congo not just for the world at large, but for the Congolese themselves. We are convinced that the Democratic Republic of the Congo is on the threshhold of great things and is worthy of positive attention. It is time for resurrection, a renaissance. 

We are seeking to initiate a paradigm change and ultimately to have the DR-Congo be viewed not as a center of violence but of creative arts and film. Its natural resources can be advertised via film so that the people can profit, not just international businessmen.

Preparatory step: A survey of the status quo in 2014 told us that there was a void in cultural arts, film in particular. 

1) We have and will continue to equip the film festival, an event which the minister of culture responded to thus: "Through your works, the Congolese people have shown their maturity and their ability to create, mobilize and organize." For the upcoming festival, we are providing portable screens. Bimpa Production will have their team members construct screen frames.

2) We will prepare to establish a film studio by taking more equipment. (We have already provided cameras, lighting, lenses, and microphones.)

4) We will build a state-of-the-art film studio/learning center which will be open to students from all over the world. 

5) We will provide a power structure to the studio and dorms so that lighting and internet are immediately available.

6) We will support nascent filmmakers by contributing to entrepreurships, which will be a part of the film center campus.

7) We will take our efforts into the Lodja area to establish open air theaters and to support artistic development. We will also power an internet cafe and the 80 dorms which have been built.