Rising up at night

In late 2022 the Congo River flooded, inundating much of the Congolese capital Kinshasa, home to 17 million people. The flooding means many of them have no access to electricity, and Christmas is approaching.

Short night-time segments follow various inhabitants of this metropolis as they attempt to restart their lives. Despite the often hopeless situations in which they find themselves—one family lives in a living room filled waist high with water—people still manage to connect with each other.

They come together for ecstatic group prayers, fitness sessions and heated debates about power cables. “Light is life itself,” says one of the central figures in the film. A shot of a street vendor dressed as Santa Claus and selling flashlights—a vitally important tool—illustrates her point.

This collection of short stories builds on the short documentary Up at Night, which won director Nelson Makengo the IDFA Best Short Documentary Award in 2019. Makengo again uses his sensitive observational style to show how a community meets challenges and reinvents itself—despite the precariousness of life.