Cinema and Intangible Cultural Heritage: The Contribution of Ndzobi to the Valorization of Endogenous Cultural Practices

Abstract: This study demonstrates how cinema can preserve and promote intangible cultural
heritage through the film Ndzobi by Congolese director Mike Yombi (2021). In a context marked
by the decline of initiatory practices threatened by modernity and urbanization, the film emerges
as a strategic instrument for documenting and transmitting knowledge that is gradually
disappearing. Ndzobi unveils the world of the eponymous initiatory society, integrating authentic
ritual elements such as rites of passage, relations to the sacred, and community structures.
Through the trajectory of Akouango, the work explores the tensions between collective traditions
and individual aspirations. The analysis highlights the documentary, pedagogical, and symbolic
functions of the film, reinforced by its visibility at FESPACO. By revealing the fragility of the
rites and their risk of erasure, Ndzobi illustrates the capacity of African cinema to serve as a
cultural mediator and a tool for safeguarding traditions.