Plot Summary

Kinshasa is a city of 10 million people without a single cinema. La Belle at the Movies examines the decline of the movie business in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s capital city by putting us in touch with audiences cut adrift from their beloved theaters. Through passionate, insightful, and deeply nostalgic interviews with filmmakers, cinema owners, government officials, and film lovers, Cecilia Zoppelletto’s lyrical documentary reveals complex politics and past events inexorably linked to the fate of “the movies” -- an industry feeling orphaned but living in hope for a brighter future.