Why did we decide to make a movie about a dark chapter in European and African history?

Coming this fall, we will present our debut feature-length documentary, fully produced by our independent production house: „Legacy of the Builder King“.

Have you already watched the first trailer? If not, make sure to watch it here before reading further.

Now, you might be asking yourself who is this (in)famous Builder King? The Belgian King Leopold II was responsible for the creation and colonization of the Congolese nation, establishing a system of terror and exploitation that allowed horrible atrocities to be committed, leading to a fatal decline in local population. Other authors and  documentarians have covered the details of these historical crimes against humanity, first and foremost „King Leopold’s Ghost“ by Adam Hochschild in 1998 that was adapted into a movie by Pippa Scott and Oreet Rees in 2006. 

Because of these ground laying works, our documentary does not describe the historical atrocities in detail, although our film does remember them and their victims. Rather, our film looks at the current situation of the legacy of this very king, who remains being honoured in Belgium’s public space. What was the impact of his reign that lasts until today? And why does he keep being glorified by means of grandiose statues in public space? Which other colonial monuments persist in public space? And most importantly, how - if at all - are the victims being remembered today? 

We are truly honoured to share this story with you. It is not our story, being ourselves foreigners in Belgium and neither a part of the Central African communities that suffer the most from this trauma. We were blessed to be accepted as the storytellers of this big historical controversy and to be trusted enough by all the experts who worked with us on the documentary, to share their perspectives. Not only with us, but with all of you around the world by virtue of viewing this documentary. 

Our movie treats the very fact that in history, the narrator has enormous power. Hence, we are honoured to have been given the opportunity to narrate this from our outside perspective, all the while trying to put our own perspectives to the side, giving the voices to those most affected by and involved in the matter. The experts who you will see and hear in our documentary, are very diverse. They come from different backgrounds, and they work in different fields. They represent activist, academic, religious and artistic voices and they themselves hold very different opinions on the matter. But they all agreed with us on one thing: the importance of this story being told. 

We will share the premiere date and ticket sales options with you shortly. Please stay tuned to our blog and socials to be the first to know. 

To shorten the wait time until autumn a little bit, you can browse the official film website here. We were also interviewed on East London Radio, you can listen to the full show here.