Series Site
Born in Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1984, Hamadi took a roundabout course to arriving in his current position as one of the most compelling talents in contemporary African cinema and international nonfiction filmmaking as a whole. After initially studying medicine, Hamadi turned to directing music videos and commercials, as well as working on genre projects for director Djo Munga’s production company. Then, at the outset of the 2010s, Hamadi made a creative about-face and began reeling out a series of intimately observed documentary works, fixing an acutely modern lens on urgent social issues and protracted political conflicts in the DRC and wider Sub-Saharan Africa while also remaining grounded in the concrete through their director’s alertness to everyday detail. Bringing together early works like Mama Colonel and Kinshasa Makambo with 2020’s Downstream to Kinshasa—the first DRC film to be an Official Selection at Cannes—this series focuses on a vital body of work by a still-young filmmaker at the vanguard of modern documentary.