Café Kuba - Who Dared to Awaken the Dead Memory

Incoming Editorial·Reviewed April 23, 2026

David Shongo’s 'Café Kuba - Who Dared to Awaken the Dead Memory' is a cinematic and sonic experience that captures the voices of Kinshasa’s café ambulants—mobile coffee vendors who serve as both observers and participants in the city’s everyday conversations. Filmed in the tense weeks following the M23 rebels’ capture of Goma, 'Café Kuba' immerses viewers in the shifting narratives of a city where memory is not static but constantly reshaped by present realities. Through ambient recordings and an evolving musical score, Shongo transforms these anonymous voices into a portrait of Kinshasa’s active memory, mirroring how personal and collective histories are continuously retrieved, reinterpreted, and lived.