Page 36 - DIFF PROGRAMME 2024

DOCUMENTARIES
RISING UP AT NIGHT
Nelson Makengo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Belgium, Germany, Burkina Faso, Qatar, 2024, 96 min, Lingola with English subtitles
21 JULY 12:15 SUNCOAST 8 27 JULY 17:30 GATEWAY 9
Kinshasa, a city of seventeen million people, is plunged into darkness and insecurity as its inhabitants struggle to access light. In a relentless quest, Kudi mobilizes his neighbourhood, Kisenso, to buy the stolen cable to restore electricity in time for the festivities. At Christmas, Kudi turns into Santa Claus, illuminating the streets of Kinshasa. Davido, looking for shelter after his house was flooded by the Congo River, kills time by working out and waiting for the river to recede. Teetering between hope and faith is a fragmented portrait of a population reinventing itself in an environment marked by violence.
For centuries, Kenya’s Laikipia region has been a grazing route for Indigenous pastoralist communities. It is also home to white ranchers and conservationists who settled during the British colonial era and stayed after Kenya’s independence in 1963. The pastoralists, the ranchers, and conservancies all rely on Laikipia’s grasslands to sustain their cattle and the wildlife. Since 2017, they have been filmed as they confront the ravaging effects of climate change. When drought and elections collide, conflict erupts. The filmmakers explore identity, the complicated legacy of British colonialism, and the intersection with climate change at the planet’s most fragile moment.
THE BATTLE FOR LAIKIPIA
Daphne Matziaraki, Peter Murimi, Kenya, United States, Greece, 2024, 94 min, Swahili, English, Samburu with English subtitles
21 JULY 17:15 GATEWAY 9 24 JULY 19:00 SUNCOAST 8
34 45TH DURBAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL