Cell phones help filmmakers reveal unseen Africa

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Resourceful African filmmakers are using cell phones tell their stories in spite of political censorship.

Kiripi Katembo Siku, an art school student from the Democratic Republic of Congo is one such director who shot his first film using only a mobile phone.

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The ingeniously devised "Voiture en Carton" ("Cardboard Car") provides a rare glimpse of street-life in Kinshasa, the country's capital, while highlighting the lengths filmmakers must go to in circumventing the eye of the law.

While the country's name implies freedom of speech, filmmakers in the country's capital are restricted by government censorship.

To get around these problems, Siku came up with a novel plan.

He attached his mobile phone to a toy car, set it to film, and gave it to a young girl to pull behind her on a piece of string as she walked through the streets of Kinshasa.

The film runs for seven minutes, during which time the toy car stops and starts (it also upends a number of times and has to be righted by Siku's young camerawoman) giving viewers a clandestine look at life in the capital -- the dancing feet of children, some teenagers gambling, and at one point a United Nations jeep passing by.

Siku is one of a number of filmmakers in DR Congo who say using a mobile phone allows them to film in ways that were previously impossible.

"Camera phones are affordable, small and easy to maneuver," Siku told CNN. "They allowed me to work more discreetly and get closer to my subjects."

Government officials try to keep reports of poverty and corruption quiet, which means filming permits have become virtually impossible for Congolese working in Kinshasa to obtain, according to filmmakers working there.

Salim Amin, Chairman of Kenya-based African news organization, Africa 24 Media, which has operated in DRC, agrees that it can be very difficult for filmmakers to work in the country.

"[They] try and stop stories of corruption from coming out by refusing accreditation to locals from the Ministry of Information. That's the way they weed out people who will be critical to government," Amin told CNN.

Those brave enough to defy the authorities and shoot without permission, whether or not they have an anti-government agenda, risk hefty fines, arrest, or worse.

A spokesperson from the DRC government was not available for comment.