Of Mud and Blood

A harrowing and compelling portrait of a Congolese mountain village caught in an endless war over coltan, one of the most important raw materials of our time.

Numbi, a small mountain village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, quietly keeps the modern world running. Around 80 percent of the world’s coltan is found here, an essential raw material for the technology that surrounds us. Residents live in the crossfire between armed groups, smugglers and military forces, and everyday life is shaped by an endless war in which alliances shift but hardship remains.

The journey coltan makes, from the muddy hands of miners to the London stock exchange, exposes colonial power structures that we continue to uphold, often without realising it. Director and cinematographer Jean-Gabriel Leynaud lets local people tell their own stories, while his camera bears witness to the destruction of the region’s magnificent natural environment.

A conversation with director Jean-Gabriel Leynaud and Morten Bøås from NUPI – Norsk utenrikspolitisk institutt – follows the film.

Courageous, disturbing and yet beautiful documentary.

Dirty Movies