21/06/2011

An unusual career for an unusual film: Djo Munga’s debut feature, Euro-African co-production Viva Riva [+see also:
trailer
film profile], one of the rare films to be shot in Congo for many years, continues to stand out from the crowd.

The film’s world premiere in Toronto last autumn generated enthusiastic word of mouth, which was boosted by its Berlinale screening in February. Backed by its German-based international seller Beta Cinema, the film is capitalising on its appealing uniqueness: a gangster film by turns dark-as-night and sunny, set against a backdrop of nightclubs and beautiful girls, Viva Riva is a novel creation among the scarce Francophone black African narrative film productions.

Cleverly playing with the codes of the genre, offering a seductive, dynamic and aesthetically pleasing portrait of a Kinshasa anchored in the present, Viva Riva has the right ingredients to take on the US market. Especially as the film is still basking in its African Movie Awards triumph and can now lay claim to having won the first MTV Best African Movie Award two weeks ago.

Launched this month in the United States, the film will be shown throughout the summer on a 15-print run, in no fewer than 60 cities, which is a record for a film...from Belgium. Indeed, Congolese director Munga studied in Belgium, and put together a Belgian-French production team (Michaël Goldberg for Brussels’ MG Productions and Boris Van Gils for Paris-based Formosa).

While the Dardenne brothers’ films, for example, are regularly released on US arthouse circuits, Viva Riva gets to enjoy a slightly wider and (relatively) commercial release.

Besides the United States, the film has already been sold to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK and Benelux. O’Brother will release it in Belgium next September.

(Translated from French)