Kumbuka

Forum Expanded 2022

Kumbuka is a multi-dimensional film that confronts the history and legacy of colonial views of Africa. It tells the story of two emerging African filmmakers as they struggle to re-edit an acclaimed yet controversial Dutch film about them. As the primary subjects of that film, they had publicly criticized it for its Eurocentric perspective, which they felt distorted their story. Having been offered the original footage for use by the film’s production company, they are at the same time presented with a chance to launch their nascent filmmaking careers as well as with the constraints that underscore persistent questions of power in cinematic representations of Africa. Interspersed with their re-editing efforts are two contradictory collections of archival footage, which provide a meta-critique both of the colonial project and of the Africanfuturistic movement that is growing in Congo in the wake of Petna Katondolo’s ongoing project of Recoding Aesthetics.

by Petna Ndaliko Katondolo (Written and Directed by)
with Bernadette Vivuya, Kagoma Twahirgwa, Yabili Marcel, Samy Baloji, Anny Mahamba, Mzee Simisi, Petna Ndaliko, Fowota Mortoo, Maitre Nzungu, Amir Bin Saidi USA / Netherlands / Democratic Republic of the Congo 2021 Swahili, French, English 59' Colour

With

Bernadette Vivuya (Filmmaker)
Kagoma Twahirgwa (Filmmaker)
Yabili Marcel (Curator)
Samy Baloji (Philosopher)
Anny Mahamba (Great Spirit Nyabingi )
Mzee Simisi (Wise Man)
Petna Ndaliko (Mwalimu (Teacher))
Fowota Mortoo (Messanger)
Maitre Nzungu (Warrior)
Amir Bin Saidi (Teacher of the Warriors)

Crew

Written and Directed by	Petna Ndaliko Katondolo
Cinematography	Petna Ndaliko Katondolo
Editing	Petna Ndaliko Katondolo
Sound Design	Lee Weisert
Sound	Jack Muhindo Mahamba
Production Design	Michael Castofas
Costumes	Speranza Sikuli
Make-Up	Speranza Sikuli
Casting	Petna Ndaliko Katondolo
Assistant Director	Michael Castofas
Production Manager	Ganza Buroko
Executive Producer	Cherie Rivers Ndaliko
Producer	Ellen Lammers

Produced by

Alkebu Film Productions

Petna Ndaliko Katondolo

Mwalimu Ndaliko Katondolo (Petna) is a filmmaker, educator, and an ancestral ecologist living between Goma, DR Congo and Chapel Hill, USA. His multi-genre artistic works are known for their decolonial Afrofuturistic artistic style, which engages historical content to address contemporary sociopolitical and cultural issues. In 1994 he co- founded Maideni, an ecological youth movement, and in 2000 he co-founded Yole!Africa. Ndaliko Katondolo teaches and consults regularly for international organizations, addressing social, ecological, and political inequity among marginalized groups through culture and art. Following Matata (2019), Kapita (2020), and Kumbuka (2022) this is his forth participation in Forum Expanded.

Filmography (selection)

2004 Lamokowang; 13 min. 2007 Pandisha Bandera; 45 min. 2010 Jazz Mama; 32 min. 2012 Melting Justice; 5 min. 2013 Mabele na Biso; 34 min. 2014 Myth Eyes; 3 min. 2016 The Dead Are Not Dead; 10 min. 2019 Danze; 21 min. · Matata; 37 min., Forum Expanded 2020 2020 Kapita; 22 min., Forum Expanded 2021 2021 Kumbuka; 59 min., Forum Expanded 2022 2023 Mahere; 60 min. 2024 Katasumbika; 37 min. 2025 Mikuba

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2025