Le Ministre des Poubelles

Spoken: French/Lingala. Subtitles: Dutch (also version with English subtitles on demand).

Some see him as a madman, others as a genius. Sharp-eyed, nimble-fingered, polio-crippled Emmanuel Botalatala is Kinshasa’s Minister of Garbage. The position is however unofficial; it is merely a stage name. As the Congo heads towards critical and uncertain elections, the Minister has a «destiny». In the capital city’s working-class districts, he creates three-dimensional artworks with the waste vomited day after day by Kinshasa. Through those, he puts forth a reflection on his country’s and Africa’s evolution. At 64 years of age, he finds himself at a turning point. Entering the last portion of his life completely penniless, he dreams of creating a cultural centre to host his rain-corroded work, train tomorrow's Ministers of Garbage and leave a trace of his existence behind. The film addresses the role the artist and his vision can play in a country searching for itself.