The history of the Congo’s decolonization and independence is glimpsed through the personal recollections of one elderly couple in Alain Kassanda’s intimate documentary, “a deeply personal, sometimes poetic, sometimes harrowing history of oppression, revolution, betrayal, disillusionment, and love” (Business Doc Europe). The elderly couple—in fact, Kassanda’s grandparents—reminisces over a remarkable trove of archival footage; their words, and Kassanda’s thoughtful interventions, seemingly combine to reverse the footage, turning the colonizers’ own images against them. Beginning as one man’s search to understand himself and his roots, Colette and Justin is ultimately an evocative and thoughtful meditation on the intersection of political and family history.

Alain Kassanda’s 2023 film Coconut Head Generation plays at MoAD on December 2, with the filmmaker in person.