No Shortage of TIFF Items; Music Box Steal ‘Viva Riva!’

Once in the blue moon pretty much describes how a film from the Democratic Republic of Congo managed to break out from the recent edition of the Toronto Int. Film Festival and land distribution deals in a multitude of territories, which now includes the U.S. Music Box Films have made their first pick-up of TIFF, landing Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s Viva Riva! – a dramatic thriller about a gas shortage and the one entrepreneur who benefits from it. Look for a release next year.

Riva returns home to Kinshasa flush with cash. The town is literally out of gas, and he is sitting on a truckload of it.
His first night home, Riva falls in love with a beautiful woman and is emboldened when he learns that a local gangster is keeping her on a short leash. Meanwhile, the gang Riva left behind in Angola arrive in hot pursuit of the gas he stole from them. ‘VIVA RIVA’ is a thriller portraying criminal trafficking in Kinshasa through a generation of young people willing to do anything. In Kinshasa, ‘Those that haven’t’ spend their time envying ‘Those that have’, and dreaming of the day when they will too. After ten years abroad, RIVA returns loaded and decides to lead the good life like ‘Those that have’. But his wealth comes from the money he stole from his bosses, namely Angolan crooks. The latter decide to take their revenge.