Congo in Harlem 2
/Le Clandestin / "The Stowaway"
Dir. Zéka Laplaine, 1996, 15min
An African stowaway attempts to elude a tenacious police officer in a short burlesque film that sets the serious issue of illegal immigration against a comic backdrop.
Pushing the Elephant
Dir. Beth Davenport and Elizabeth Mandel, 2010, 91min.
"An intimate family drama set against the backdrop of the 1998 conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pushing the Elephant tells the story of Rose Mapendo, who was separated during the conflict from her five-year-old daughter, Nangabire. Rose survived the atrocities of those years and was eventually resettled in Phoenix, Arizona, with her other children. Now, after 12 years apart, Rose and her daughter Nangabire are reunited in the US. Through the story of their reunion, we come to understand the excruciating decisions Rose made in order to survive and the complex difficulties Nangabire faces as a refugee in the US—torn between her painful past and a hopeful future." - Human Rights Watch Film Festival
