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Sizzling Viva Riva!
New High-Octane Crime Drama From Music Box Films
Riva (Patsha Bay Mukuna)
In the gritty and ungoverned Congolese capital of Kinshasa, life is full of poverty, crime, and corruption. Everything and everyone is for sale. Likewise, everything and everyone is disposable. With a gasoline crisis on their hands, the people of Kinshasa have become desperate; they will do anything to get their hands on fuel. But desperation for some creates opportunities for others.
Enter Riva (Patsha Bay Mukuna), an operator and audacious con man who has returned home to Kinshasa after a ten year absence. He has it all: a surplus of cash, a fortune in hijacked gasoline, and enough brash charm to captivate the ladies. Riva has come to town with a plan: to show everyone that he’s made it in life and to benefit from his cache of fuel which he plans to sell for a huge profit.
The new highly acclaimed African film of 2011, Viva Riva!, is directed, produced, and written by Kinshasa’s own Djo Tunda Wa Munga. This high-octane crime drama sizzles with raw energy and sexual tension. Awarded “Best Feature Film” by the PAN African Film Festival and recipient of six 2011 African Movie Academy Awards including: Best Picture, Best Director, and best Supporting Actor and Actress, Viva Riva! captures the essence of life on the streets of Kinshasa in a way literally never done before. The film is the first ever to be released by the Democratic Republic of Congo and to be seen by U.S. audiences. The film stars Patsha Bay Mukuna, Manie Malone, Hoji Fortuna, Marlene Longage, Diplome Amekindra, and Alex Herbo. Munga scores with his first ever fiction film.
Riva’s on the lam, but as he flamboyantly throws around wads of cash, Riva attracts all the wrong attention from all the wrong people. Love and lust soon get in the way and after many late nights in the clubs, he becomes captivated by Nora (Manie Malone), the seductive girlfriend of Azor (Diplome Amekindra), a malicious gangster who controls the streets of Kinshasa. Azor is as mean as they come and is not content to share his territory or his lover and things get brutally ugly. Riva can run, but he can’t hide for long. His reckless lifestyle begins to unravel. Hot on Riva’s heels is the Angolan crime lord Cesar (Hoji Fortuna) who is in pursuit of his stolen shipment of gasoline. Cesar will do anything to seek revenge with his own form of vigilante justice.
Being that the city of Kinshasa is known for its music, this is an important element in the film. The musical arrangement, composed by Cyril Atef, nicely portrays the overall mood, expressiveness, and spirituality that Munga intended. Viva Riva!, a Music Box Films, opens Friday, June 10th in New York and Los Angeles. The film’s duration is 96 minutes and is rated R for strong sexuality, graphic nudity, brutal violence, language, and some drug use. Audio is in Lingala and French with English subtitles. Viva Riva! is a must see summer sizzler fueled with pulsating non stop action.