Cinéssential is pleased to announce its third and final screening in the 2022 “Violence, Civil War & Ethnic Struggle” film and debate series, which will be the phenomenal documentary LUMUMBA, LA MORT DU PROPHÈTE. This screening is organized in cooperation with the wonderful cinephiles of KASKcinema.

LUMUMBA, LA MORT DU PROPHÈTE is a creative documentary where biography and history, stories and archives create a frame around the figure of Patrice Lumumba (the first Prime Minister of Zaire), his political assassination, media and memory. The documentary is narrated by the director, Raoul Peck, as he reconstructs a story that interweaves his own personal experiences and the circumstances surrounding the murder of Lumumba. Peck is in Belgium, and uses shots of Brussels to establish his location and contrast with the archival footage he combines to tell Lumumba's story. For more information on the film, see here.

The event takes place on Monday 16 May from 20.30 to (around) 22.30 at KASKcinema. As the lovely people of KASKcinema were kind enough to host us for this session (and have taken care of the – crazy expensive – movie rights), tickets can be reserved through their website for the reasonable price of € 4,00 for UGent staff (€ 6,00 general admission). You will also find all information about the event here.

The film will be expertly introduced by Drs. Alexander De Man (Centre for Cinema and Media Studies), and followed by another fascinating panel debate with Dra. Eline Mestdagh (SocialHistory – a historian of the ‘post-colonial momentum’ and ongoing memory activism around Belgium’s colonial past) and Dra. Anissa Bougrea (Ghent Institute for International and European Studies – former journalist and expert on the financialization of EU development aid to Africa).