Inter Press Service - October 4, 2007
Cécile Walschaerts

"The idea for this television series came to me by chance while I was looking at a programme...on Congolese television," says Djo Tunda Wa Munga, who trained at INSAS, a film school in the Belgian capital, Brussels. "I was very surprised to see AIDS patients come openly and with uncovered faces to speak of the illness on television. I thus wanted to go and see more."

At the end of 2006 he tracked down the people from this programme and was inspired by the accounts of their lives to write a fictional television series called 'My Story'.

Financial assistance for the first episode, titled 'Papy', came from several organisations, including the International Organisation of the Francophonie and the King Baudouin Foundation -- created on the 25th anniversary of the reign of the late Belgian monarch. Wa Munga also received Belgian and German governmental aid, and he has the support of Peter Piot, director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

"During the screenings organised in Congo, the first episode seemed to have grabbed the public...what I hope above all that people will embrace the series," Wa Munga says.

The pilot, which the director filmed in record time in Kinshasa, was inspired by the story of Papy Ilunga, a policeman rejected by his family after the announcement that he was HIV positive.

The episode is acted by professional actors, but in certain instances the line between fiction and reality is blurred, as Wa Munga has also filmed the daily life of the Congolese capital and its residents.

"The foundation of reality is very important to my approach. From this, I try to establish story lines. Papy was very happy during the screening in Kinshasa, even if -- I believe -- certain moments of the film were painful for him," says the director.

Frank, moving and sometimes funny, the film charts Papy's efforts to cope with HIV/AIDS in the midst of rejection by his wife and others close to him.

"My story started when I was very ill; I felt death approach, but I could not accept it taking me away," says Romain Ndomba, the actor who plays Papy, in the film.

The message of the episode: the rejection of people ill with AIDS related diseases can hasten their death; without the support of their families, they do not have the will to fight.

'Papy' is scheduled to be shown on Congolese stations this month, then on TV5 Monde, an international channel. The production will also start showing soon at film festivals; on Friday, it will screen at the Fortnight of Francophone Cinema at the Wallonie-Brussels Centre in Paris.

"In supporting the film, we had two goals. They had to do with helping a Congolese cinematic project, but also an ambitious project to fight HIV/AIDS," explained Gerrit Rauws, health affairs director at the King Baudouin Foundation, during the presentation of the pilot in Brussels last month.

Noted Wa Munga: "There are no cinemas in Congo, there is no film industry either."

Rauws's observations were echoed by Sabine Ruppol, a technical councilor for Belgian governmental aid. "This film is a strong signal. Each Congolese can recognise themself in it, and that's proof of success."

The two organisations provided about 71,000 dollars for 'Papy'.

The preview of the production can be seen on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khSuQqK0YWI

UNAIDS puts at one million the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the DRC, including 100,000 children younger than 14 -- this according to 2005 figures.

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