In this eye-opening documentary, 28-year old Congolese charcoal maker Kabwita Kasongo is doing his best to support his family. He lives in Kolwezi, a remote town in the southern province of Katanga, with his wife Lydie and three daughters. Through swelling hardships, Kasongo works toward a single goal—to build his family a house. As part of his routine, Kasongo wheels charcoal made from the ashes of firewood into town on a loaded bike, working tirelessly to provide the essential food, shelter and safety.
Purely observational, Makala veers away from social commentary to allow Kasongo’s story to stand alone, following his daily life with a thoughtful lens. Through Kasongo, we witness the hardships that stem from an environment that hasn’t kept pace with his family’s needs. Makala, meaning “charcoal” in Swahili, is a simple yet powerful work from director Emmanuel Gras that makes certain not to coat Kasongo’s story with a filtered gloss.
Director Biography
French cinematographer and director Emmanuel Gras was born on 1976. Before his professional career, he studied at ENS Louis Lumière in Paris with a focus on film and photography. His feature-film Makala screened as an Official Selection at Cannes' La Semaine de la Critique.
Press
"Emmanuel Gras' camera embraces the subject's every move with such rapt intimacy and cinematic poetry it's easy to forget this is not a fictional drama." - Variety
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