As the making of the film progressed, we watched Mambety pacing, in constant movement, as if afraid to slow down. At the same time, Ngangura's simple fable raises some of the most troubling issues of identity facing people of African descent in the ever-widening Diaspora of the late 20th century. Mani Kongo, the venerable king of the Bakongo, sets out alone on a quest for his long-lost daughter, Mwana, whom he sent to Belgium to study medicine many years before. As soon as he leaves his village and enters the Westernized world he finds his identity challenged. Based on the tragic Greek myth of Orpheus and Euridice, Orfeu is set in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during Carnaval.
All films are FREE and open to the public.