{"id":10,"date":"2007-11-01T23:39:19","date_gmt":"2007-11-02T03:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/2007\/11\/01\/ondes-de-choc-shock-waves\/"},"modified":"2007-11-06T16:11:03","modified_gmt":"2007-11-06T20:11:03","slug":"ondes-de-choc-shock-waves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/2007\/11\/01\/ondes-de-choc-shock-waves\/","title":{"rendered":"Ondes de Choc \/ Shock Waves"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a partly bilingual post. Texte fran\u00e7ais en italiques.<\/em><\/p>\n

Recently I had the opportunity to see, Shock Waves,<\/strong> an excellent doc on the struggle for democracy and accountability in Congo. This film was made by my former colleague at Radio-Canada television H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Magny and her husband Pierre Mignault, and produced by Nathalie Barton of InformAction in Montreal. It just won the Detroit Doc\u2019s Festival award for \u201cthe documentary the most likely to change the world. ” At the heart of the film: Congo’s first truly national radio network, Radio Okapi. By covering the courageous forays of its journalists into different regions, the filmmakers explore country’s problems and attempts to address them.<\/p>\n

\"H\u00e9l\u00e8ne<\/a><\/p>\n

H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Magny and Pierre Mignault.<\/p>\n

You can find all the information about the film in english on the producer’s web site.<\/a><\/p>\n

J’ai r\u00e9cemment eu l’occasion de voir l’excellent documentaire Ondes de Choc sur la lutte pour la d\u00e9mocratie au Congo. R\u00e9alis\u00e9 par mon ancienne coll\u00e8gue H\u00e8l\u00e8ne Magny et son mari Pierre Mignault, le film est produit par Nathalie Barton \u00e0 Informaction \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al. Au coeur du film, la premi\u00e8re cha\u00eene de radio nationale du Congo. Les d\u00e9placements et reportages de ses courageux journalistes permettent aux cin\u00e9astes de faire le tour des probl\u00e8mes du pays et des efforts de d\u00e9mocratisation. <\/em>Le film vient de gagner un prix \u00e0 D\u00e9troit.<\/em><\/p>\n

Why is it important <\/strong>to understand the present situation in the Congo ? You might want to read Jooneed Khan’s article in La Presse Nov 1st, where he argues that that country is the locus of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.<\/strong> Also, describing a trip up the Congo river to Kisangani (remember Heart of Darkness ?) there’s an excellent article in the latest issue of Harper’s by Bryan Mealer. He is about to publish a book on the Congo, and claims 4 million people were killed there from 1996 to 2003.<\/p>\n

This coming saturday night at 22.30 this film will be broadcast in Radio-Canada’s new documentary time slot, Zone Doc.<\/strong> This slot will on occasion make room for films longer than the usual 52 minutes, and will sometimes feature an interview with the filmmakers, as will be the case this saturday. All this is good news.<\/p>\n

J’ai demand\u00e9 \u00e0 H\u00e9l\u00e8ne comment elle et Pierre ont eu l’id\u00e9e pour le film.<\/strong> Sa r\u00e9ponse:<\/em><\/p>\n

“En 2003 et 2004, j\u2019ai \u00e9t\u00e9 appel\u00e9e \u00e0 travailler sept mois comme r\u00e9dactrice en chef r\u00e9gionale de radio Okapi \u00e0 Kisangani et \u00e0 Goma. Pierre a aussi travaill\u00e9 deux mois et demi en 2005 \u00e0 Goma. Apr\u00e8s avoir constat\u00e9 sur le terrain l’impact ph\u00e9nom\u00e9nal de cette radio sur la d\u00e9mocratisation du Congo et sur la libert\u00e9 d’expression, nous avons d\u00e9cid\u00e9 d’en faire un film en 2006 en mettant en lumi\u00e8re le courage h\u00e9ro\u00efque de ses journalistes. “<\/em><\/p>\n

Quelle est la plus grande difficult\u00e9 que vous avez rencontre ?<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>“Nous voulions faire un film sur le Congo \u00e0 travers le travail de radio Okapi en suivant sur le terrain des journalistes en reportage dans trois r\u00e9gions du pays. Il nous est apparu fondamental de r\u00e9v\u00e9ler le principal probl\u00e8me v\u00e9cu quotidiennement par la population congolaise: le banditisme \u00e9rig\u00e9 en syst\u00e8me au sein des forces arm\u00e9es qui pillent et violent en toute impunit\u00e9 et qu\u2019on surnomme \u201ctracasseries\u201d. Tout au long du fleuve Congo, les militaires \u00e9rigent des barri\u00e8res, taxent ceux qui passent, les torturent s\u2019ils n\u2019ont pas de quoi payer, assujettissent les femmes \u00e0 des abus sexuels. Au cours d\u2019un reportage avec le journaliste Andr\u00e9 Kitenge sur le fleuve, nous avons \u00e9t\u00e9 confront\u00e9s \u00e0 ce ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne. Nous avons donc d\u00e9cid\u00e9 de filmer la situation clandestinement. Mais l\u2019utilisation d\u2019une cam\u00e9ra cach\u00e9e au Congo, si elle est d\u00e9couverte, peut entra\u00eener de graves cons\u00e9quences. Compl\u00e8tement isol\u00e9s en pleine brousse, nous avons eu de la chance.”<\/em><\/p>\n

I asked H\u00e9l\u00e8ne how she and Pierre had the idea for the film. She says: <\/strong><\/p>\n

“In 2003 and 2004 I was asked to work for seven months as regional chef editor for Okapi radio in Kisangani and at Goma. Pierre also worked in 2005 for two and half months in Goma.<\/p>\n

While working we witnessed the phenomenal impact that this radio station had on the democratization of the Congo and also on freedom of speech \u2013 so we decided in 2006 to throw the light on the heroic bravery of these radio journalists.”<\/p>\n

What was the biggest difficulty that you encountered?
\n<\/strong>
\n“We wanted to make a film on the Congo through the work of Radio Okapi by following the journalists on the job in three regions of the country as it seemed fundamentally important to reveal the main daily problem experienced by the Congolese people which is: banditry \u2013a central system \u2013 set up by the armed forces who pillage and rape with impunity and nicknamed the Harassers.<\/p>\n

All along the banks of the Congo the Harassers build blockades to tax people who want to pass, and torture those who refuse to pay, and subject the women to sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

While covering a story with the journalist, Andre Kitenge, we were confronted by this phenomena and therefore decided to film the situation clandestinely \u2013 yet the use of a hidden camera, if discovered, can bring about some serious consequences. As we were completely isolated in the middle of nowhere, in the bush, we had the chance to film.”<\/p>\n

( Merci \u00e0 Jeannette Pope pour la traduction.)<\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a partly bilingual post. Texte fran\u00e7ais en italiques. Recently I had the opportunity to see, Shock Waves, an excellent doc on the struggle for democracy and accountability in Congo. This film was made by my former colleague at Radio-Canada television H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Magny and her husband Pierre Mignault, and produced by Nathalie Barton of … Continue reading Ondes de Choc \/ Shock Waves<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,9,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-francais","category-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}