Identity Pieces

Mweze Ngangura was born in Bukavu in 1950. He studied cinema at the Institut des Arts et Diffusion (IAD) in Brussels. After his studies he returned to what was then Zaire and became a fellow in three higher education institutes of Kinshasa. In 1980 he made his first documentary, Cheri Samba, a portrait of a young popular painter from Kinshasa. Then came Kin Kiesse, on the sweet and sour joys of Kinshasa la Belle.He wrote and directed La Vie Ese Belle in 1985, which starred Papa Wemba. It tells the “rags to riches” story of a poor country musician who seeks fame in the city’s vibrant music industry. This was followed a decade later by Pieces d’Identite, a modern fairy tale set in the vibrant African immigrant world of contemporary Europe. It was the winner of the most prestigious award in African cinema at Fespaco. In Les Habits Neuf du Gouverneur he is reunited with Papa Wemba. However the film’s schedule was complicated when Wemba was in prison awaiting trial in Belgium on human trafficking charges. To preserve his independence, Ngangura founded Sol’Oeil Films in Kinshasa and Film Sud in Brussels and has been producing his own films since. —bbc.co.uk