The Empire of Silence

16th september 2022

4:30 PM

International Contest

Short Synopsys:

For 25 years, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been ravaged by a war that has been largely ignored by the media and the international community. The victims run into the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. The perpetrators of these crimes are countless: rebel movements, but also armies, those of the Congo and neighboring countries…

All of them seem to be caught up in a dizzying array of killings,for power, for money, in order to monopolize the wealth of the Congo with impunity, in the midst of general indifference. Relaying the plea of Doctor Mukwege, a Nobel Prize laureate, Thierry Michel retraces the sequence of this heartless violence which has ravaged and ruined Congo for a quarter of century.

TRAILER

Directed by: Thierry Michel
Production: Les Films de la Passerelle
Producer: Christine Pireaux
Editing: Idriss Gabel
Cinematography: Thierry Michel
Running time: 110
Country: Belgium
Year: 2022
Contacts: films@passerelle.be

Director’s statement:

I could not end my series of 11 films on this country without having made this crucial documentary that gives the keys to understanding the ever-current tragedy which this great African country has been plunged into. It is one of the richest in the world due to its agricultural, forest and energy wealth, and, of course, due to the strategic importance of its precious mineral reserves that are essential to the prosperity of Western and Asian countries and to the development of advanced technologies.