The young performers in the Castillo Theatre’s production of Aimé Césaire’s A Season in the Congo bring to life the independence movement in the Congo and the brief, brilliant tenure and tragic end of the country’s first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba and the destruction of that independence movement.
Today’s war in the Congo which has killed over 4 million people — making it the most devastating war since WWII — is rooted in this history and, as it was then, is fueled by the Congo’s vast mineral wealth. A major tactic in today’s war is the systematic rape of women and girls as an effective way to destroy the fabric of society. Join us at a Castillo Culture Talk in conversation with activists and experts who have worked to bring this real-life tragedy to light.
Lisa F. Jackson’s powerful feature-length documentary, The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo, recently shown on HBO, won a Special Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. This powerful film documents Lisa’s journeys to the war zones of eastern Congo to find rape survivors willing to bear witness to their experiences and break the silence that has surrounded the systematic kidnapping, rape and torture of women and girls in this intractable war. Lisa, herself a survivor of gang rape, created a special bond with the women she interviewed. Lisa’s work as a documentary filmmaker has earned her three Emmy nominations, two Emmy awards and four CINE Golden Eagles. Her films: Voices and Visions: Emily Dickinson, Jackson Pollock: Portrait, and Through Madness appeared on PBS and the Emmy Award-winning The Secret Life of Barbie on ABC. Lisa has lectured at the Columbia School of Journalism, New York University, Harvard and was a visiting professor of documentary film at the School for Visual Arts in Manhattan
Noella Coursaris Musunka, an internationally acclaimed model born in the Congo, a non-profit human rights activist and the founder of the Georges Malaika Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to unlocking the potential of young African girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo through education
Maurice Carney is a human rights activist and the co-founder and Executive Director of the Friends of the Congo, an advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. He has fought for over a decade to bring about positive change in the heart of Africa. He served as the Africa working group coordinator for Reverend Jesse Jackson while he was Special Envoy to Africa for President Clinton
Joseph T. Mbangu is a Congolese attorney and an activist based in New York City, where he works to bring public attention to the humanitarian crisis in the Congo. He was studying law on the border of Rwanda when the genocide began. He fled the area, completed his law degree and immigrated to the US in 1999, although he has returned twice. He worked on the international outreach of Lisa F. Jackson's documentary film The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo, and also served as a translator. His focus is also on women’s rights.
Deborah Green was the Political Director of the Rainbow Lobby, an independent people’s lobby which aided and supported the democracy movement in the Congo from 1986 to 1992. Deborah currently serves on the Board of Directors of the All Stars Project.
Moderator Carolyn Kresky is a three-time Emmy Award winning broadcast journalist whose work has appeared on CBS, ABC, HBO, PBS, and the History Channel. A veteran women’s rights activist, Carolyn is a founder of the Castillo Theatre and co-producer of the Culture Talk Series.
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