Kinshasa Kids

Marc-Henri Wajnberg

Musical film with documentary-like features. In the hustle and bustle of the Congolese capital some 30,000 children live on the street because their parents accuse them of witchcraft. Some of them decide to ward off their bad luck by forming the band The Devil does not Exist. The eccentric impresario Bebson helps them ‘to rock Kinshasa!’.

Some 30.000 castaways live in the bustling streets of Kinshasa. These children have been expelled by their parents for supposed witchcraft. One of these ‘shegués’ is José, who was kicked out by his parents for being possessed by the devil. Surviving on food he finds on the street and the generosity of restaurant owner Josephine, he dreams of a successful career as a rap singer. Together with his friends, he starts to make music with everything they can get hold of: hammers, old plastic bottles and broken electronic toys. Under the inspiring leadership of ‘bird of paradise’ Bebson, a local and generous rap singer, the kids even form a band, which they quite appropriately baptise The Devil Does not Exist. Without giving in to sentimentality, Kinshasa Kids is a tribute to the resilience and high-spirited nature of the young protagonists, all of whom are amateur actors that Belgian director Marc-Henri Wajnberg recruited in the streets of Kinshasa.

Credits

Director
Marc-Henri Wajnberg
Year
2012
Country of production
Belgium, France
Type
Fiction
Duration
85 minutes
Spoken language
French, Lingala
Subtitles
EN
Production company
Wajnbrosse Productions