National Diploma

What's it like preparing for final exams in the Congo? This film is about a group of high school students from the city of Kisangani for whom graduation is not only an important step on the road to adulthood, but also a guarantee of a better life. But in Congo, good grades aren't enough. You have to have enough money to pay off your teachers. Joel and his classmates decide to succeed at any cost. They rent an abandoned house in the suburbs, wheel and deal to obtain the right test questions for study, and undergo a wide range of occult rituals. This candid film, shot in cinéma vérité, shows the students' determination as well as the pitfalls of the Congolese education system. (One World)