System K

A lively, cogent, unsettling documentary about the incredible art world roiling in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
-- Glenn Kenny, New York Times

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System K

Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a vast, chaotic mega-city of 12 million. Water is privatized and the electric grid is capricious. Here, street artists’ performances are wildly creative, angry, irreverent, often shocking. With names like Kong Astronaute, Strombo, and Kill Bill, they masterfully repurpose urban detritus (computer parts, TV sets, bullet shells, machetes) and work with fire and paint, wax and blood — to critique government corruption, Western exploitation (their nation was literally once the private property of Belgium’s King Léopold II), and entrenched poverty. SYSTEM K reveals a vibrant, raw, politically astute world of performance art the likes of which exists nowhere else on earth.
Genre
Documentary, Art & Artists
Runtime
95
Language
French, Lingala
Director
Renaud Barret
Writer(s)
Renaud Barret
FEATURED REVIEW
Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter

If you think you know street art because you’ve seen a few works by Banksy or Shepard Fairey, then you should take a look at the immersive documentary 'System K' ('Systeme K'), which follows several Kinshasa artists who bring the medium to a whole new level. Directed and shot by the French-born ...

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