NGUYA | Michiel Robberecht

5 X 20 MINUTES

In Eastern-Congo a futuristic Robot – made out of Coltan – named Nguya gets born after a deadly accident in one of the mines. Nguya has the mission to save the Congolese people from the war and terror seizing the region. Therefor Nguya needs to find his superpower and learn how to use it.

The project is selected for being developed at the 2022 Doha Film Institute Series Lab.

Set in a political landscape controlled by narratives that consequently victimises Congolese people, Nguya decolonizes the superhero narrative owned by Western hegemony, and places us in the skin of a futuristic Congolese super hero.

PRECY NUMBI

writer / main actor

Precy Numbi grew up in Kisangani, Congo; where his family had to live under the constantly seizing rebel groups. When his family managed to flee to the capital Kinshasa, Precy started his studies at Académie des Beaux Arts of Kinshasa. After his studies he moved to Goma, Eastern Congo where he lay his first hands on his futuristic Robot Costumes. Currently Precy Numbi lives and works between Brussels and Kinshasa giving performances and making videos with his futuristic robot suit. By transforming himself into a robot he wants to touch upon topics as ecologic awareness and decolonizing the western owned super hero narrative.

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MICHIEL ROBBERECHT

writer / director

Michiel Robberecht lives and works between Brussels and Addis Ababa. After having lived in Congo Michiel Robberecht released his first short film Peer Gynt that he made in cooperation with a village in the Congolese equatorial rainforest. As a writer/director and photographer Michiel currently works on a new short film with blind people, his first feature film set in Eritrea and a new mini series Nguya set in Eastern Congo. His work is characterized by his documentary approach of fiction.

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COLTAN

Coltan is the resource that is put in all our electronic devices to be able to have a good connection with the internet. Eighty percent of all Coltan reserves are found in Eastern Congo. Therefor it is one of the main engines of the region’s war and instability.

The robot Nguya is made out of Coltan. This makes the robot to absorb all energy surrounding him and to be bulletproof. It are the two superpowers Nguya discovers to have along the road, but at the end he sees that his real superpower is that he makes people to connect and understand each other.

Nguya means “inner power” in Lingala. The power to radiate and be connected as human beings.

SYNOPSIS