Gender cinema contributes to the construction of cultural identity in DRC’ (a filmmaker)

Kinshasa, April 17^th, 2025 (CPA)-Genre cinema, which brings together specific cinematographic styles such as fantasy, horror and the paranormal, has for some time been a key factor in the construction of cultural identity in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a Congolese filmmaker told CPA in an interview on Wednesday. ‘Genre cinema contributes enormously to the construction of Congolese cultural identity. Through legends, traditions and customs, it offers a strong, technical and valorising representation, both nationally and internationally. This enables us to appropriate our culture and strengthen our patriotism (…)’, has declared Gustave Fundi Mwamba, a specialist in genre cinema. ‘’Gender cinema profoundly redefines the way we think and see things. It invites young people and the Congolese population to think differently about DRC, to project themselves into the future, to anticipate problems and to look quickly for solutions’, he has added. In his view, this type of cinema, which includes several film styles such as science fiction, paranormal and experimental, enables us to represent, reproduce and anticipate, ‘which encourages us to think more intensely about DRC and to envisage sustainable solutions for its future’. According to the director, the importance of promoting genre cinema in the Congolese context lies in the fact that it enhances culture through a different style that offers greater creative freedom. ‘If we want to talk about our legends, our tales and our myths, which we still have a poor grasp of, cinema can become a medium for enhancing our mythologies and our cosmogony. We have a wealth of cultural riches and we still find it hard to immortalise them’, he has suggested.  In the same vein, Gustave Fundi also indicated that a festival called ‘Paradox Films Festivalk’, featuring genre films, would be organised under his artistic direction from May 6^th to 10^th in Lubumbashi, the capital of Haut-Katanga, in the south-east of the country, The aim is to provide a space for young filmmakers to express themselves freely, to encourage and enable young Congolese and African scriptwriters and directors in general to push their creativity even further, to explore the many possibilities offered by the world of the imagination.