MINISTRE DES POUBELLES (Directed by Quentin Noirfalisse) ***

Emmanuel Botalatala is the Minister of Garbage; he is also an artist who collects garbage for his own creative projects. He makes all kinds of collages from them. He teaches some teens to do  it – even his wife who has devoted her entire life to her artistic husband who seems to see everything through rose tinted glasses. He has hope for Congo and wants more than anything to be recognized by the government so that he can be assured he can pass on his art to future generations. It is a pathetic way to try to live, as artists there make nothing. (Screened at Vues d’Afrique Festival 2018)