LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- Resourceful African filmmakers are using cell phones to tell their stories in spite of political censorship . Art school student Kiripi Katembo Siku listens during a mobile phone filmmaking workshop at the Académie des Beaux Arts in Kinshasa . Kiripi Katembo Siku , an art school student from the Democratic Republic of Congo is one such director who shot his first film using only a mobile phone . The ingeniously devised `` Voiture en Carton '' ( `` Cardboard Car '' ) provides a rare glimpse of street-life in Kinshasa , the country 's capital , while highlighting the lengths filmmakers must go to in circumventing the eye of the law . While the country 's name implies freedom of speech , filmmakers in the country 's capital are restricted by government censorship . To get around these problems , Siku came up with a novel plan . He attached his mobile phone to a toy car , set it to film , and gave it to a young girl to pull behind her on a piece of string as she walked through the streets of Kinshasa . The film runs for seven minutes , during which time the toy car stops and starts ( it also upends a number of times and has to be righted by Siku 's young camerawoman ) giving viewers a clandestine look at life in the capital -- the dancing feet of children , some teenagers gambling , and at one point a United Nations jeep passing by . Siku is one of a number of filmmakers in DR Congo who say using a mobile phone allows them to film in ways that were previously impossible . `` Camera phones are affordable , small and easy to maneuver , '' Siku told CNN . `` They allowed me to work more discreetly and get closer to my subjects . '' Government officials try to keep reports of poverty and corruption quiet , which means filming permits have become virtually impossible for Congolese working in Kinshasa to obtain , according to filmmakers working there . Salim Amin , Chairman of Kenya-based African news organization , Africa 24 Media , which has operated in DRC , agrees that it can be very difficult for filmmakers to work in the country . `` [ They ] try and stop stories of corruption from coming out by refusing accreditation to locals from the Ministry of Information . That 's the way they weed out people who will be critical to government , '' Amin told CNN . Those brave enough to defy the authorities and shoot without permission , whether or not they have an anti-government agenda , risk hefty fines , arrest , or worse . A spokesperson from the DRC government was not available for comment . Siku only started making films last year , when he participated in a mobile phone filmmaking workshop held by French filmmaker , Marie-Dominique Dhelsing in February 2008 . The young Congolese says it gave him the inspiration he needed to carry on making films . `` After her course here in Kinshasa I fell in love with directing , editing and working in a team , '' Siku told CNN . Watch Siku 's `` Voiture en Carton '' here . Dhelsing organizes mobile filmmaking master classes in deprived regions of the world to give young people in developing countries an opportunity to tell their stories . Although her Congolese workshop was officially organized for students at the Académie des Beaux Arts , Kinshasa 's only arts school , Dhelsing also encouraged less privileged youths from nearby slums to attend her tutorials . `` The pupils who were most interested were coming from the roughest townships in Kinshasa , '' the 49-year-old told CNN . `` They would spend two and a half hours traveling to the school by foot because they did n't have money for a bus . `` For me it was very important that they could participate , '' she said . During the two weeks she spent in Kinshasa in 2008 , Dhelsing and her trainees produced a total of eight short films -- an impressive tally given the logistical problems they faced . `` I wanted them to edit what they had shot , but there was little access to computers , '' she told CNN . `` We also had a lot of electricity problems , '' she continued . `` In Kinshasa , you have a period of at least two or three hours a day where you have no electricity . '' Siku 's film has been entered into the international section of mobile phone film festival , 5th Pocket Films Festival , which is being held in Paris in June . The festival organizers supported Dhelsing 's mobile workshops by equipping her with camera phones . Laurence Herszberg , founder of Pocket Films , says the relative cheapness of mobile movies can serve as a stepping stone for emerging cineastes in poorer regions . `` Young filmmakers , knowing that it 's very cheap , often decide to make their first feature film by shooting it on mobile , using it as an advertisement to show what they 're capable of , '' Herszberg told CNN . Siku 's mobile film allowed the young Congolese to successfully showcase his talents and opened the vital first door to a future in filmmaking . He is now working as an assistant director on a documentary about the economy of DR Congo 's mining region , Katanga . Siku also continues to shoot on mobile phones and has , with a number of his workshop colleagues , founded YEBELA , a collective of video artists who show their films in the streets of Kinshasa . Dhelsing is pleased that her classes have taken on a momentum of their own . `` For the artists in the collective , it 's a very important way to express themselves , '' she said . `` We 've been in touch all year by e-mail and I support them , but they 're doing their own thing now . '' Now , she 's seeking a new challenge . Having just returned from her second workshop in Johannesburg , Dhelsing is currently planning a third in the slums of São Paulo this September . `` Sometimes I think I must be crazy doing what I do , '' she told CNN . `` But if it was n't for the workshops I would never get to see these places and meet these interesting people . '' Mairi Mackay and Metsa Rahimi contributed to this article .
French Filmmaker organises mobile movie workshops in developing nations . Faced with technical and political problems whilst teaching in Kinshasa . Congolese pupil 's film nominated at Pocket Films Festival in Paris . Workshops have taken on momentum of their own .