🇬🇦GabonCentral Africa
Matamba Kombila's film "Mindoubé" addresses Libreville's waste problem
via Gabon Review2 min read
Gabonese filmmaker Matamba Kombila's documentary "Mindoubé" explores the issue of waste in Libreville, aiming to promote collective responsibility rather than focusing on misery. The film will premiere on June 18, 2026, at the Institut Français before a national rollout in schools across Gabon's nine provinces. Produced by Dougantsi Films with support from NEWF, "Mindoubé" takes viewers to Libreville's largest landfill, personifying it as a site that discovers its impending closure and the devastating impact it has on the community's health and environment. The narrative features real-life characters, including Fanny Mihindou, a recycler since 2017, and Georges Mbourou, an artisan who crafts plastic canoes on the Lowé riverbanks. A French-made doll, nearly half a century old and found in the river after drifting from the landfill, completes this symbolic trio. Beyond the film, Kombila designed "Mindoubé" as the starting point for a large-scale civic program. The film will serve as a central educational tool during twenty free screenings in September 2026, coupled with debates and workshops in schools across Gabon. Young people are identified as the primary target for this national awareness campaign, encouraged to become agents of ecological change. The photographic exhibition "Giving an Echo to Silence" by photographer Ombalo Kierno will extend the film's message into public spaces. The total promotional budget for the project is 67.4 million CFA francs excluding taxes, with
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