IN CINEMA

Congo In Harlem 15: Lumumba: Return Of A Hero
Saturday, October 21st at 7PM
Tickets:  $15 General Admission | $7 Reduced

Quentin Noirfalisse, Benoit Feyt, and Dieudo Hamad, 2023, 86 min. (French, Lingala, and Swahili with English subtitles)

61 years after his assassination, the remains of Patrice Lumumba are returned home – or, as his children say, “the Congo returns to Congo”. On June 30th, 1960, Patrice Lumumba became the first Prime Minister in the history of Congo, as the country gained independence after 80 years of Belgian colonial rule. An outspoken anti-colonialist, he intended to use the huge wealth of his country to benefit its people. Six months later, he was killed in the province of Katanga with his two political allies, Joseph Okito and Maurice Mpolo, and their bodies were dissolved in sulphuric acid. All that remained was a single tooth, taken from Patrice Lumumba’s dead body before it was disposed of  by a Belgian police officer who held onto it until his own death in 2000.

Lumumba’s assassination was followed by the rise of the dictatorship of Mobutu Sesse Seko, who remained in power until 1996, thanks to strong western support. The events surrounding Lumumba’s death and Mobutu’s ascendance have had a lasting impact on Congo to this day.

Historical research has now proven that Belgium, the US, and the United Nations were all involved in the murders of Lumumba, Okito, and Mpolo. In 2001, a parliamentary commission admitted Belgium had “a moral responsibility” in the crimes, and in 2022, the Belgian government finally took the step to officially return Patrice Lumumba’s tooth to his children’s hands.

Through the story of the repatriation of Lumumba’s tooth, LUMUMBA: RETURN OF A HERO chronicles the tragic fate of Congo’s most important political figure.