Culture
Venice Winner Politely Asks Hollywood To Notice Congo Exists
By Bruno Von Falken, . BSN Network. Satire.
VENICE, ITALY. Machérie Ekwa Bahango, the Congolese director whose film 'Madi Makambu' took home the Final Cut prize at the Venice Film Festival this year, has formally requested that the international film industry acknowledge the Democratic Republic of Congo as a sovereign nation capable of producing cinema, history, and human beings with inner lives.
The request, made via a sit-down interview with Variety, was described by sources close to the industry as "thoughtful," "timely," and "something we'll absolutely circle back to once awards season calms down."
"Through my films, I would like Congo to be seen as part of the world," Bahango told the outlet, in what insiders are calling one of the more reasonable things anyone has ever asked of a global entertainment apparatus that recently greenlit its fourteenth cinematic universe reboot. "Not for the labels people stick on it, but for what it really is."
The labels she is referring to include, but are not limited to: conflict zone, resource extraction backdrop, and setting for a white journalist's redemption arc.
Bahango's 'Madi Makambu' deals with difficult subjects rooted in Congolese experience, told from a Congolese perspective, by a Congolese director, with Congolese actors, in Congo. Industry analysts noted that this eliminates at least three of the five elements Hollywood typically requires before greenlighting an African story.
"We're a great nation that needs to write its own history," she added, apparently under the impression that history is something a nation gets to write about itself rather than something assigned to it by a documentary narrated by someone with a British accent over footage of an empty road.
Variety ran the interview at approximately 600 words, which is 598 more words than the publication has historically devoted to Congolese cinema in any given calendar year. A spokesperson for Variety said the outlet remains "deeply committed to global voices" and pointed to a 2019 listicle titled "10 World Cinema Hidden Gems You Totally Need To Watch" that included one film from sub-Saharan Africa, described in the entry as "visceral."
The film 'Madi Makambu' itself, by all accounts an actual piece of art made by an actual artist with actual things to say, has been praised by the Venice jury for its unflinching treatment of themes that festival press materials described using the word "raw" four separate times. Bahango has been making films in Congo for years, working with limited budgets and no studio infrastructure, which the industry finds inspiring in the abstract and inconvenient in the budget meeting.
When asked what she hopes audiences take away, Bahango did not say "the raw, visceral authenticity of a nation in crisis." She said she wants people to understand that Congolese subjects are human subjects, which is the kind of statement that sounds self-evident until you look at the release calendar.
Hollywood has responded to the Venice win with a wave of interest that one producer described as "real this time" and another described as "we'll see."
Congo has yet to receive the call.
The story we are making fun of: https://variety.com/2026/film/awards/venice-final-cut-macherie-ekwa-bahango-madi-makambu-congo-1236858450/