OF MUD AND BLOOD

Jean-Gabriel Leynaud |
France, Germany |
2024 |
90Min |
English, French
Numbi, a little village hidden deep in the Democratic Republic of Congo mountains, lies nonetheless at the heart of our world. Here, with their bare hands, miners dig the coltan which will find its way – legally or otherwise – to our industrialized world. For decades this grey gold, indispensable to the manufacture of almost all contemporary technological devices, has been the cause of conflicts and a bitter exploitation. In Numbi, bodies are covered in mud, hands red with blood, and coltan hides in every pocket. Every inhabitant lives with the illusory hope of escaping fate and enjoying for themselves the riches of the Congo. Sensitive, shocking and deeply moving, Of Mud and Blood documents the everyday existence of the inhabitant of Numbi, revealing the hardships and trials of a story from which we must not look away.
Jean-Gabriel Leynaud
Laurent Baudens, Laurent Flahault, Martin Hampel, Thanassis Karathanos
Jean-Gabriel Leynaud

Screenings

21 Jul 17:30 Suncoast 8
25 Jul 17:00 Ballito Junction

Jean-Gabriel Leynaud

Jean-Gabriel Leynaud is an award-winning director and cinematographer with extensive experience in cinema and television, both on fictions and documentaries for platforms such as Arte, Netflix, National Geographic, France TV, Canal+, NHK, PBS.
With over 20 films shot in Africa, Of Mud and Blood marks his sixth project in the Kivu province of Eastern Congo (DRC). Initially drawn to the region to film its active volcanoes and wildlife, he was profoundly moved by the stark realities faced by its inhabitants, who have endured decades of relentless conflict. To authentically capture the life of an isolated mining village in a conflict zone, he assembled a team of Congolese researchers led by Josaphat Musamba, a renowned anthropologist expert in armed conflict and mineral resource governance in the DRC.
Inspired by his previous work following young homeless drug addicts over several years, he spent an extended period in the village of Numbi, allowing him to intimately document the characters’ lives, and to reveal the harsh realities they endure to fuel the global demand for the latest technology.