Michel, Thierry. Katanga Business. Belgium: Les Films de la Passerelle, 2009. 35 mm, 120 min.
In Katanga, a modern-day El Dorado in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, new world economic relations are woven through billion-dollar transactions. Among the new actors, tens of thousands of “diggers” search for ways to survive by illegally occupying the concessions of mining multinationals, whereas legal workers fight for barely-decent salaries and working conditions. An extremely wealthy provincial governor, praised by the masses; a Belgian manager also known as “The King of Katanga”; a Canadian CEO and a kind of white sorcerer attempting to save an obsolete, State-run industrial empire; a Chinese businessman who just signed the mining contract of the century with the Congolese government – these are the characters of Thierry Michel’s new film. And these are the people who draw up the new strategic alliances in Africa today. Their destinies intertwine in a tragicomedy staged on economic and social wars. Their symbolic and prophetic dimension make Katanga Business an edifying tale full of dark humor and realism about globalization, its hopes and its gloomy setbacks. (Source: Official Film Website and Press Kit)
© 2009 Doc & Film International. Trailer used with permission.
This film is available at the Rachel Carson Center Library (RCC, 4th floor, Leopoldstrasse 11a, 80802 Munich) for on-site viewing only. For more information, please contact library@rcc.lmu.de.
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