THE BURDEN

Elvis Sabin Ngaībino
Central African Republic/ France/ Democratic Republic of Congo/ Italy/ Germany 2023 I 80 min I Original Version with English subtitles I German premiere

SA 16 NOV
17:00 SINEMA TRANSTOPIA

Rodrigue and Reine live with their three children in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. They live off a meager cassava harvest and are very active in the local church, where the battle between God and Satan is central and belief in evil spirits, curses and witchcraft is widespread.

Rodrigue and Reine live with a big secret: they both have AIDS. The local pastor preaches that the disease is divine punishment…

ELVIS SABIN NGAĪBINO, born in Bangui in 1985, is a geologist by training who has always dreamed of working in cinema. In 2012, he and some friends founded the Académie du Cinéma Centrafricai. CATERPILLAS (MAKONGO), his first feature-length documentary, won an award at the 2020 Cinéma du Réel festival in Paris.