Congo. Both Sides.

Behind the scenes from an interesting project that took us to Kinshasa in the D.R.C and across the rather epic Congo River into Brazzaville, the capital city of The Congo. The river divides more than just the two countries and their main cities on opposite banks – Brazzaville is calm in comparison to Kinshasa, where political uncertainty fuelled by a series of dictators, brutal policies, political assassinations and an ongoing civil war along the eastern border has created a population living under constant pressure. Despite this, both countries are growing film destinations, with many documentaries, commercials and projects for the local and international markets being serviced out of South Africa and Rwanda. Congo Brazzaville is also home to a number of nature reserves, in the north of the country, that contain an increasing number of mountain gorillas untroubled by the growing tourism industries in the D.R.C and Rwanda. Whilst neither country is easy to navigate with a large crew, they definitely are interesting places to visit for smaller productions looking for graphic backdrops, interesting architecture and an amazing patina. And, of course, there is also one of the world’s greatest rivers to traverse.