Africa News

Viva Riva! in 18 African countries

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:02

Djo Tunda wa Munga's MTV Movie Award winning feature film Viva Riva! will open in an unprecedented 18 African countries starting in Kinshasa, The Democratic Republic of Congo on 22 September followed by South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Uganda, Lesotho and Swaziland on 7 October.

The film will then roll out to various countries in West Africa and Central Africa. The Congolese director’s gangster thriller has won numerous awards, including the inaugural 2011 MTV Movie Award for Best African Film, six African Movie Academy Awards and best feature from the 2011 Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles.

The international co-production also screened at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival and the Berlin International Festival in 2011.

“This is a high-definition portrait of urban Africa that is rarely seen on the big screen,” says co-producer Steven Markovitz of Cape Town based Big World Cinema. “Rich with colour and movement, Munga’s film takes audiences on a journey through crowded city streets and steamy nightclubs. He captures an atmosphere evocative of the DRC as it is today. We want to show that you can release African films across Africa, there is an audience, a real market for African films. We hope that this release will create a pipeline for further releases of African titles on the continent.’’

Explosively violent, gritty and realistic, the film delves into the world of young smugglers working the Angola-Kinshasa trade – young men who care little about what happens tomorrow. It’s a tale of rival gangsters and corrupt officials, recounted against the sprawling background of Kinshasa.

Congo-born R&B singer Patsha Bay Mukuna stars as Riva. Making her screen debut in a lead role, as the beautiful nightclub denizen Nora, is Paris-based actress Manie Malone. Cesar is played by Hoji Fortuna, an Angolan born actor who lives in New York. Diplome Amekindra takes on the role of Azor.

Director and writer Djo Tundawa Munga spent his childhood in Kinshasa and completed his schooling in Belgium, where he later studied film. He secured funding for Viva Riva!, the first film shot in the Congo in 25 years, from France’s Canal Plus.

“What’s really exciting is that we’re witnessing the arrival of an electrifying new filmmaker,” says Helen Kuun, CEO of Indigenous Film Distribution. “This is crime drama as it’s never been seen before. It’s an accomplished piece of filmmaking that has rightly been recognised as something new and special. We’re really happy to be able to show it to Southern African audiences.”

Viva Riva! opened in the US on 10 of June to rave reviews. The Hollywood Reporter calls it “A bold crime action film that's vicious, sexy and throbbingly realistic."

Writing in Worldfilm, Andrew Grant says it’s “gripping entertainment from start to finish, and the type of gangster film that Hollywood no longer knows how to make”. AV Club’s Allison Willmore describes it as “frenetic, sleazy, and entertaining as all hell…a stylish and multiplex-worthy crime drama”.

The film is distributed by Indigenous Film Distribution in Southern Africa and in East Africa and West Africa by 234 Media. The continental release of this movie, that has MTV Base as media sponsor, is being handled by Steven Markovitz of Big World Cinema and Djo Tunda wa Munga of Suka! Productions with the support of the Hubert Bals Fund, Goethe Institut and Allliance Francais.

International Sales are handled by Beta Cinema. The film has sold to USA, Canada, UK, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand.

The film will also screen in Mozambique, Senegal, Mali, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe and the Republic of Congo The film releases in Nigeria and Ghana on 1 December.