Kin­shasa 2.0

An Internet campaign helps in the release of a presidential candidate jailed for talking openly about the lack of democracy. Moving between a militarised Kinshasa and Second Life, (a 3D virtual chat program), the subversive power of the Internet for democracy is explored whilst painting a disquieting portrait of an African Capital. Kinshasa 2.0 tells the story of how the arrest of Marie-Thérèse Nlandu, a woman from a prominent political family in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was publicised through the Internet and resulted in filmmaker Teboho Edkins visiting Kinshasa to see how the arrest has affected the family. His film explores a tense, militarised Kinshasa, where it is extremely difficult to film, and using 2nd life – a 3D virtual chat program - he looks at his friend Carine’s attempt to keep in contact with her aunt Marie-Thérèse after she is released and goes into exile in Belgium. The film moves between the real city and the heightened world of 2nd life accompanied by a silent observer – a wooden soldier that appears on the edge of most scenes observing, waiting, watching…