Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda

• Name — Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda • Born — 30 October 1957 • Birthplace — Kinshasa • Known for — Juju Factory • Occupation — Film maker

Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda was born on 30 October 1957 in Kinshasa. He studied sociology, history and philosophy in Brussels, Belgium. He took courses in filmmaking in France, the United Kingdom and the United States. From 1979 to 1981 he was an instructor in the French Cultural Centre in Lubumbashi. In 1991 he made his first documentary, Dix mille ans de cinéma, and in 1993 released a second documentary on Thomas Sankara. His first fiction film was Le Damier – Papa national oyé! (The Draughtsmen Clash) made in 1996. He was a member of the board of short films at CNC in France from 1999 to 2001. Balufu was a member of the Input 2000 (International Public Television) in Cape Town, South Africa and a member of CreaTV, Unesco's program for televisions in the South between 2000 and 2003. Bakupa-Kanyinda is a writer and a poet as well as a film director. New York University invited him to lecture in 2006/2007 at the NYU-Ghana campus in Accra. Balufu is a founding member of the Guild of African filmmakers and producers. In 2015 Bakupa-Kanyinda was featured in La Belle at the Movies, a documentary by Cecilia Zoppolletto about the history and disappearance of Congolese cinema, and said he was working to establish a film school and work towards sending entries to international film festivals. "Cinema is an important art: it’s the art of telling the world about yourself,” he said.

Films directed by Bakupa-Kanyinda include: • Year — Title — Notes • 1991 — Dix mille ans de cinéma — Short documentary 13 minutes. Scolopendra Productions, France • 1993 — Thomas Sankara — Documentary 26 minutes. Channel Four, UK., • 1996 — Le Damier – Papa national oyé! (The Draughtsmen Clash) — Fiction 40 minutes • 1999 — Bongo libre... — Documentary 26 minutes • 1999 — Watt — Fiction 19 minutes • 1999 — Balangwa Nzembo (l’ivresse de la musique congolaise) — Documentary 52 minutes • 2002 — Afro@Digital — Documentary • 2002 — Article 15 bis — Fiction 15 minutes • 2007 — Juju Factory — Drama • 2009 — We Too Walked on the Moon — Short drama 16 minutes In 2014, he co-produced the "Miss Vodacom" show in Kinshasa.

Balufu Bakupa Kanyinda was born on 30 October 1957. After studying in Brussels, in Paris and in America, he became the talented film maker he is today. He has four sons, named Joel, David, Arthur, and Oscar, and a daughter called Anne. Currently, he lives between Belgium and Democratic Republic of the Congo but, due to his work, he travels a lot.