GRAMNet Film Series Bolingo, the Forest of Love

Bolingo, the Forest of Love tells of the journey made by several women from the heart of Africa to a self-built camp on the Moroccan-Spanish border. Stranded there, they talk about their perilous journey and their experiences of sometimes forced motherhood, having risked everything for their family so their children could have a better life. In the words of one, “It is better I chase the future than the future to chase me.”

Bolingo means love in Lingala; a language used by a group of Congolese migrants. The Forest of Love shows mothers fighting for survival and raising their children in hostile circumstances as they await the opportunity to cross the ocean.