ORE AND LORE
By Thierry Michel
Synopsis
A small village 2 hours from the track in the province of Katanga in Democratic Republic of Congo.
The induction of a new customary chief begins at night, in the forest, with traditional rites. This rare ceremony is an opportunity for the village to assert its collective identity and its cosmology. Many traditional leaders came from everywhere.
In the early morning, the party continues after a night of waking up, drinking and dancing. Personalities sometimes coming from very far away made the trip, and the police forces were dispatched by the government. Among them the representative of the President of the Republic, the Minister of Mines of Katanga and the big boss of a mining multinational who came specially from South Africa and who covets the mineral wealth of the region, copper and cobalt
The royal bracelet is passed down from generation to generation, and means that the ancestors recognize the choice of this new chosen one. For the new leader, this rite is a concession to animism, which is contrary to his religion because he is an evangelist pastor.
Official statements concern the arrival of multinational mining companies, potential sources of income but also of nuisance.
A few months later, in Kinshasa, the capital, during a mining conference, where mining companies, political authorities, NGOs. We take stock there. Among the participants, the traditional chief, who has still not seen any improvement in living conditions in the village
A production Les Films de la Passerelle