Intriguing new documentary in pre-production from Belgian/Brit Kristof Bilsen – a Congo (DRC)-set documentary feature titled White Elephants, A Congo Trilogy (not to be confused with the 2011 Djimon Hounsou thriller Elephant White).

The documentary, which is based on a critically-acclaimed short film titled just White Elephants, centers on the Central Post-Office in Kinshasa, and its employees.

Here's the synopsis:

This grandiose relic of the colonial past has trapped its employees in a frozen timewarp from which they are planning their escape. From past to present, through the cracks in the walls, and leaks in the ceilings, we glimpse present-day Congo.

The feature version of the doc was pitched at the Sheffield Doc/Fest MeetMarket in mid-2011, and, according to its website, with support from grants from Cinereach and CBA, they've got the money to begin shooting "in Jan/Feb 2012."

So by all accounts, things area moving along…

In the meantime… I couldn't find the short version of the film, which has been on tour in the USA and Europe, but I did find its trailer which I embedded below. It looks beautifully-composed and shot, meditative and even poetic; certainly not the pulsating vision of post-war DRC (Kinshasa specifcally) that we saw in Djo Munga's Viva Riva!.

I'm curious about the feature certainly, and it's now officially on my watch list.

Trailer for the short below: