Empire of Dust

The documentary is set in the camp of a Chinese company building a road in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lao Yang, in charge of logistics, is responsible for getting materials and food to the camp; by the agreement the Congolese side is to supply them, but nothing arrives. With Eddy, a Congolese man who speaks Mandarin, as interpreter, Lao Yang has to leave the camp and negotiate with local contractors, or the roadworks will stop. What emerges is a long negotiation in which neither side understands the other, growing sharper and at times becoming comic. Bram Van Paesschen’s seventy seven minute Belgian documentary was completed in 2011 and does not settle the question of who is directing whom with an easy answer.