The film is a creative documentary where biography and history, stories and archives create a frame around the figure of Lumumba, his political assassination, media and memory. It is a unique opportunity to examine, 50 years later, the life and legend of Lumumba. The documentary is narrated by the director, Raoul Peck, as he reconstructs a story that interweaves his own personal experiences and the circumstances surrounding the murder of Lumumba. Peck is in Belgium, and uses shots of Brussels to establish his location and contrast with the archival footage he combines to tell Lumumba’s story. The film is about absence; absence of a historical figure, absence of clarity about the events surrounding his death, and absence of a true historical construct. Even a true location is absent; he cannot get to Zaire, the topic of his film, but the majority of the archival footage and photos used are from Central Africa. Even if he were able to film in Zaire, he would be faced with an absence, so no matter his location he is still “filming from afar.

When the medium of film expanded in the early 20th century, it was employed among other things for the purpose of promoting Europe’s “civilizing mission” on the African continent.

Since the independence of African countries in the 1950’s and 60’s, filmmakers from Africa are correcting this image and writing their own stories. Beyond the maps focuses on film productions from various genres, dealing both with the resistance against European colonialism on African soil and with the conference itself. Apart from film screenings there will be Q & A sessions with the filmmakers as well as invited experts.