The Democratic Republic of Congo Heads to Overtown with a Special Black Lounge Film Series Presentation of Félicité
MIAMI – Black Lounge Film Series continues to bring global Black cinema to Historic Overtown. For its 6th edition on Friday, July 20 at 7pm, the series will present Félicité, an independent film directed by Alain Gomis, an award winning, Franco-Senegalese filmmaker, and shot in Congo-Kinshasa.
The screening will take place at the Overtown Performing Arts Center, 1074 NW 3rd Ave, Miami, FL 33136. Tickets are available at $5 for Overtown residents and $13 for general admission.
Félicité, which stars Véro Tshanda Beya, Papi Mpaka, and Gaetan Claudia, follows a proud and tough, free-willed woman working as a singer in a bar in Kinshasa. Félicité’s life is thrown into turmoil when her fourteen-year-old son is involved in a traffic accident. To save him, she heads out in search of the money she needs for his care, starting a breakneck race through the streets of electric Kinshasa – a world of music and dreams where she’ll cross paths with Tabu, a local maintenance man who fixes Félicité’s refrigerator and becomes her companion.
“At the origin of this film are real people,” director Alain Gomis explains, “women I’m close to – mainly in Senegal. Strong women who don’t accept compromise, who tackle everything head on and refuse to give in no matter what.” Gomis adds, “We can’t talk about hope if we don’t grapple with real difficulty – if we don’t face it completely. […] You have to grapple with the present and go down into the hole. At the bottom of the abyss [are] the seeds of new possibility.”
The music in Félicité includes on-screen performances from Kinshasa band Kasai Allstars and the Kinshasa Symphony Orchestra playing the haunting compositions of Estonian “holy minimalist” Arvo Pärt.
In 2016, Knight Arts Challenge winner Rachelle Salnave founded the Black Lounge Film Series (BLFS) to shed light upon the global African Diaspora experience by bringing important international films to Historic Overtown. She is committed to engaging and enriching the Overtown community and larger South Florida community through cinema.
The BLFS series is made possible with the support of the Green Family Foundation, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor, the Board of County Commissioners, and the Knight Foundation.
For more information, visit Black Lounge Film Series or contact Rachelle Salnave via email at [email protected].
