Rising Up at Night
Qumra Screenings - Qumra 2025
Nelson Makengo / Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Belgium, Germany, Burkina Faso, Qatar / 2024 / 96 min / Colour / DCP2K / In French, Lingala / Arabic, English subtitles
Themes: Documentary
Rated: 
Mature subject matter. May not be suitable for minors. Individuals under the age of 15 are not admitted into cinemas
Dates And Timings
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Mon, Apr 7 - 7:30 PM
Museum of Islamic Art - Auditorium- Fee: 35 QAR
Description
Kinshasa, the capital city of 17 million people, is plunged into darkness and insecurity as its inhabitants struggle to access the light. In a relentless quest, Kudi mobilises the people of his neighbourhood, Kisenso, to buy the stolen cable so that electricity can be restored in time for the festivities. At Christmas, Kudi turns into Santa Claus. Flashes of light and hope illuminate the streets of Kinshasa. On Mount Mangengenge, a sacred site, Pastor Gédéon preaches the light of Christ as the way to faith and light. Meanwhile, young Davido is looking for shelter after his house was flooded by the Congo River. He kills time by working out and waiting for the river to recede from his neighbourhood.
The film transforms the absence of light into a powerful metaphor for survival. Makengo's lens captures both the struggle and the poetry of Kinshasa's people, where conviction, ingenuity, and quiet resistance shape daily existence. A deeply humanist work, the film is a poignant reflection on how a community reclaims its agency in the face of collective hardship, finding resilience even in the darkest hours. Between hope and religious faith, 'Rising Up at Night' is a subtle, fragmented portrait of a population that, despite the challenges, is reinventing itself in an environment marked by violence, coloured by the uncertainty of tomorrow and immersed in the beauty of Kinshasa's nights.
Director
Nelson Makengo
Nelson Makengo is a filmmaker whose work bridges contemporary art and cinema, capturing the political and poetic realities of life in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His acclaimed short 'Nuit Debout' (Up at Night) (2019) won Best Short at IDFA and was named one of the BFI's 50 Best Films of 2020. His previous works, including 'E'Ville' (2018) and 'Théâtre Urbain' (Urban Theater) (2017), have garnered recognition at international festivals, earning awards such as the Sharjah Art Foundation Award at the Videobrasil Biennale in 2019. A Sundance Documentary Film Institute and Doha Film Institute Fellow, he has also collaborated with Al Jazeera and Meta. With 'Rising Up at Night', his feature documentary debut, Makengo delivers a visually striking and profoundly resonant meditation on survival, community, and the pursuit of light in the shadows of an ever-changing city.
Credits
- Screenwriter
- Nelson Makengo
- Producer
- Rosa Spaliviero, Dada Kahindo Siku
- Cinematographer
- Nelson Makengo
- Editor
- Inneke Van Waeyenberghe
- Music
- Bao Sissoko, Wouter Vanenabeele
- Cast
- Kudi, Pastor Gédéon, Davido