The release of the documentary film entitled “Lumumba, the return of a hero” directed by Benoît Feyt, Dieudo Hamadi and Quentin Noirfalisse, was announced for Thursday June 8 at the Vendôme cinema in the municipality of Ixelles in Brussels, Belgium. The documentary, which lasts a total of one hour and twenty-six minutes, addresses the controversial celebrations on the return of Lumumba’s remains, and questions the mystery surrounding his death and his personality. The directors of the film will also be present for a meeting with the public at the end of the screening.
The film looks back on the return to Congolese soil of the body of Patrice Lumumba, Congolese hero of independence, assassinated in 1961 with two of his closest collaborators, in the midst of the Cold War and during the wave of African independence. Dissolved in acid, his body was never found. In 2016, it was discovered that human remains had been kept in Belgium, while the parliamentary commission of inquiry concluded that the Belgian government had obviously disregarded the physical integrity of Patrice Lumumba and that after his assassination, that same government deliberately spread lies about the circumstances of his death.
This film allows us to understand the personality of the hero of Congolese independence. Born on July 2, 1925 in Onalua, in the current province of Sankuru in the DRC, Patrice Emery Lumumba, whose real name is Elias Okit’Asombo, received excellent educations in Christian missionary schools. This education allowed him to forge his strong personality.
In short, this documentary presents an opportunity for the public to discover a part of the history of the DRC and for the directors to highlight the charismatic personality of Patrice Lumumba, who for many Congolese, represents until today a symbol of national independence