Sponsored by:
U-M African Studies Center
U-M Center for Global Health Equity
U-M School of Nursing Office of Global Affairs/WHO/PAHO Collaborating Center
U-M Taubman Health Sciences Library

Based on the struggle of young people in Goma (Northeastern Congo) against the prevailing Western reporting about war and misery, Stop Filming Us investigates how these Western stereotypes are the result of a skewed balance of power. Stop Filming Us creates a cinematic dialogue between Western perceptions and the Congolese experience of reality. While the Congolese perspective becomes increasingly clearer in the film, questions arise about the perspective of the film itself; is a white director able to make a film about the new Congolese image or is it primarily a story created by his own Western perspective? Virtual viewing followed by a panel.

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Panelists
Alain Mukwege: Alain Mukwege is a Congolese born physician and a human right activist. His work was inspired by his father’s, Denis Mukwege, the2018 Nobel Peace prize recipient for his advocacy against sexual violence in conflicts. Alain Mukwege is a consultant for the Panzi Foundation, a non-profit organization working to provide interventions to improve the quality of care and life for victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is also member of the advisory board of the International Center for Advanced Research and Training, a research center born from a collaboration between the University of Michigan and Panzi Hospital. He holds a Master a Clinical Research and Translational Science and his research interests lie in the development of mechanisms to improve women’s health in developing countries and to prevent gender-based violence. Presently living in Ann Arbor Michigan to prepare for a training in Obstetrics and Gynecology, His work also involves building partnerships between Western institutions and Panzi Hospital to help develop local Congolese capacities to address local problems. This drove collaborations notably with the University of Michigan and with World without Genocide. He believes that the cessation of violence against women would be indispensable in the advancement of healthy communities and that violence against women in addition to be a violation of basic human rights is also a global health hazard. Despite these challenges, he hopes to see and contribute in the advent of a fair, peaceful and prosperous society in Congo.

Mbala Nkanga: Dieudonné Christophe Mbala Nkanga is an Associate Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies in the department of Theatre and Drama at the University of Michigan. He is native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and came to U-M with extensive experience as a teacher, director, and scholar.
He specializes in theatre history, performance theories, and world drama. His research interests include: politics and poetics of language in performance and popular arts in Central Africa, intercultural
ism and the performance of memory in world theatre and performance; the study of Jean Genet’s aesthetics of profanation and its relation with black theatre (object of a manuscript in progress); and the Mvett epic and its performance (book in preparation: Mvett: Performance, Cultural Memory, Identity Among the Fang). He is preparing the upcoming publication of his Performance, Rumor, and Audience: The Theatre of Resistance in Central Africa, 1990-2000 (Palgrave), African Theatre and Performance: History, Memory, and Forgetfulness (Francis and Taylor, upcoming in 2022) and an anthology of francophone African plays in translation.

Daniel Rivkin: Daniel Rivkin is a recovering journalist who has spent most of his career working around the world, in some 70+ countries. He was Reuters TV bureau chief in Brussels and Paris, eventually managing a global product line. Since leaving Reuters, he has been a strategic communications creator and consultant for NGOs, governments, corporations and international organizations. He has covered the news and worked with a number of entities in African countries for 30 years, including the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, AMREF Health Africa, Standard Chartered, A24 Media, and most recently with the Center for International Reproductive Health Training (CIRHT) at the University of Michigan. He is currently Senior Media and Outreach Strategist at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Co-Moderated by: Kevin McCawley, UMMS and Fiyinfoluwa Morenikeji, UMSN

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