Jeffrey Levy-Hinte

Jeffrey Levy-Hinte has brought the disparate and unedited film of Zaire '74 together into one coherent form for the first time. The rainchild of South African musician Hugh Masekela and American record producer Stewart Levine, Zaire '74 was a three-day music festival that took place in Kinshasa in 1974. The event assembled America's biggest rhythm and blues talents – including James Brown and the Mighty JBs, Bill Withers, B.B. King, and the Spinners – along with top African acts such as Miriam Makeba and Afrisa. The festival was held in conjunction with the boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman known as the "Rumble in the Jungle." Most of the American performers, emboldened by the civil rights movement, were visiting Africa for the first time, exploring their roots and somewhat naive beliefs about the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.