DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT 

When they tried to kill my father in 1996, he wasn’t home but my mother, my younger sister and I had to face the traumatic attack and looting that occurred that night in Kinshasa. “They” were corrupted military officers paid by political enemies. Less than a week after that assassination attempt, my family and I had to flee the country and find refuge in Belgium.  

The core inspiration of JUWAA is the decades-long complex and necessary healing process that began after the attack. Countless times I had nothing but silences as answers to my pressing questions about how to mentally survive in this new Belgian life of ours. Thankfully, I was able to find a bit of solace in avidly reading books, befriending people from diverse backgrounds, and in my growing hunger for artistic expression. 

Love and a trip back to Congo (for the first time after ten years of exile) helped me embrace my plural identity as a human being. Embracing our plural identities inspired my JUWAA team and I to create a family drama about multi-layered African characters without the usual clichés we see on screens when it comes to darker skinned people. 

It is a huge but rewarding challenge to finance, produce and distribute refreshing films that try to transcend class, race, gender and spiritual taboos. And I believe, since we are all complex human beings, when a story is authentically crafted it leaves a beautiful impact in us and opens doors that are as singular as they are universal. 

Learning, loving, and sharing my artistic craft with that belief has become my favorite therapy.