1991–1992: First films
In 1991, Phoba premiered her debut 13-minute documentary film, Corps à cœur. The film portrays a dance class set on Rue du Faubourg du Temple in Paris, where Jacques' drumming on the djembe sets the rhythm and participants engage in an immersive celebration of movement. [5] [10] Elisa leads the group with positive direction, guiding a series of African dance steps that leave the narrator physically drained and mentally invigorated. [10] That same year, Phoba created the 26-minute film Revue en vrac in collaboration with Fred Mongu, a journalist from Zaire's national broadcaster OZRT. [9] Though initially envisioned as a documentary on the Sovereign National Conference (Conférence nationale souveraine; CNS), the focus shifted to the development of an independent press in Zaire amid the country's severe political unrest. [2] Phoba believed the timing was significant and felt the film could serve as an important historical record. Working with limited resources, a simple camera and Hi-8 tape, and no budget, she filmed under challenging conditions marked by suspicion from state security forces. [2] The film offers a behind-the-scenes look at key newspapers like Le Potentiel , Elima, La Semaine , Grognon, Forum des As, and Umoja, capturing public and political reactions to Étienne Tshisekedi's appointment as Prime Minister. [2]
1993–present: Recognition and cultural exploration
Two years later, she directed the documentary Rentrer? (1993, 52 minutes), which addresses the issue of brain drain and won the South/North prize from the European Council at the Festival International Médias Nord-Sud in Geneva in 1996. Phoba's 1996 short film Une voix dans le Silence depicts the struggles of Bruno Ediko, an HIV-positive man from Benin. Her fourth documentary, Deux petits tours et puis s'en vont… (Two little turns and then gone), co-directed with Emmanuel Kolawole, focuses on Benin as a testing ground for African democracy and won second prize in the TV/Video documentary category at FESPACO in March 1997. [9] [11] [12] [11] In 1998, Phoba made Un rêve d'indépendance , a film reflecting on 35 years of independence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which received the Images of Women award at Montreal's Vues d'Afrique Festival in April 2000. That same year, she established Lagunimages, the first film festival in Benin, a biennial event offering free film and documentary screenings in cinemas and outdoor venues. [9] [11] [12] [11]
Phoba premiered her documentary Anna, l'Enchantée in 2001. The film follows Anna Teko, a singer who receives a scholarship to study music in France, but due to inadequate preparation, she returns after just three months. The film was awarded the Images of Women prize at Vues d'Afrique Festival in April 2002. [11] In February 2003, she served as a short film jury member at the 18th edition of the FESPACO. [13] In 2004, she released Sorcière, la vie!, a 52-minute documentary examining the presence of witchcraft in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, [14] [2] [15] critically exploring the cultural values surrounding the phenomenon while serving as a personal investigation into Phoba's own heritage shaped by her years living abroad. [2] [16] In 2008, Phoba co-directed Entre la coupe et l'élection with Guy Kabeya Muya, [17] a documentary set between the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the Congolese elections, focusing on two National Institute of Arts students attempting to document Zaire's historic 1974 World Cup appearance by Les Léopards (meaning "The Leopards"). [18] [19] [4] That same year, on 10 October, she co-directed La santé n'a pas de prix with the Belgian Technical Cooperation (CTB). Premiered at the Wallonie-Bruxelles Center through an initiative of the National Program for Medicine Supply (Programme national d'approvisionnement en médicament; PNAM) and in the presence of Health Minister Victor Makwenge Kaput, the 20-minute documentary shows how PNAM functions and promotes safe access to medicines to prevent the use of counterfeit or low-quality drugs in the country's largely unregulated pharmaceutical market. [20] [21] [22] From 1995 to 2007, Phoba lived in Benin, where she has worked on production, distribution and promotion of African cinema. [9] Her first short 23-minute fiction film, Soeur Oyo, a 23-minute trilingual project in Lingala, Kikongo, and French, was released in 2014. It received three awards and was shown over 50 times at festivals and community events across Africa, Europe, and North America. [11] [14] [23] [24]
