Cinema and Decolonisation Cycle to screen films as part of the exhibition ‘Deconstructing Colonialism, Decolonising the Imagination;’ Opening session on November 9 at ISEG
The Cinema and Decolonisation Cycle returns with a new 2024/2025 season, featuring monthly film-club screenings to explore the legacies and memories of decolonisation. This initiative runs in parallel with the exhibition Deconstructing Colonialism, Decolonising the Imagination, currently on view at the National Museum of Ethnology (Lisbon).
The first screening, scheduled for November 9 at 10 a.m. in Auditorium 2 at ISEG (Rua do Quelhas 6, Quelhas Building, 2nd Floor), will show the film Independência (Fradique, 2016, Angola, 105 min). The film presents memories of Angola’s colonial period, revealing the initial steps of the liberation struggle and revisiting some of its main settings. A post-film discussion will feature Ana Paula Tavares, poet, professor, and historian.
The sessions will take place from November 2024 to June 2025, with screenings in ISEG’s Auditorium 2. Each screening will include participation from artists involved in the films, as well as researchers and moderators appointed by CEsA.
About Independência
On 11th of November 1975, Angola proclaimed its independence, 14 years after the start of the armed struggle against Portuguese colonial rule. Salazar’s regime refused any negotiation with those who were pro-independence. They were left with few choices: secrecy, imprisonment, or exile. When almost of all Africa was celebrating the end of colonial empires, Angola and the other Portuguese colonies were suffering a rather different fate. Only after the military coup on 25th of April 1974, when the regime was overthrown, did Portugal recognise the right of its colonies to self-determination.
The years of struggle evoked in Independência determined the course that Angola would take after 1975. Political options, internal conflicts, international alliances, began to emerge during the anti-colonial struggle. The main organisations (FNLA and MPLA, and later UNITA) never formed a common front and their contradictions were further magnified by the Cold War context. Independence was proclaimed in a climate of war, but with great emotion and pride, and is depicted in the film.
Production: Associação Tchiweka de Documentação and Geração 80
Director: Mário Bastos (Fradique)
Producers: Paulo Lara and Jorge Cohen
Historical Consultant: Conceição Neto
Research: Conceição Neto, Paulo Lara, and Mário Bastos (Fradique)
Script: Mário Bastos (Fradique), Conceição Neto, and Paulo Lara
Director of Photography: Kamy Lara
Editing: Charles Alexander, Kamy Lara, and Zeno Monyak
Music: Victor Gama
Narrator: Kalaf Epalanga
Voice of Deolinda Rodrigues: Elizângela Rita
About the Cinema and Decolonisation Cycle
Decolonisation must be understood as an ongoing process, one that needs to be embraced and integrated into social, political, cultural, and personal dynamics. The project aims to create an open, dynamic space for sharing memories, narratives, dialogues, and reflections. It is coordinated by researcher Jessica Falconi (CEsA/CSG/ISEG/ULisboa) and curated by researcher and filmmaker Isabel Noronha (CEsA/CSG/ISEG/ULisboa) and filmmaker Camilo de Sousa.
Coordination: Jessica Falconi (CEsA/CSG/ISEG/ULisboa)
Curation: Isabel Noronha (CEsA/CSG/ISEG/ULisboa) and Camilo de Sousa
Scientific Consulting: Isabel Castro Henriques (CEsA/CSG/ISEG/ULisboa), Joana Pereira Leite (CEsA/CSG/ISEG/ULisboa), and Ana Mafalda Leite (CEsA/CSG/ISEG/ULisboa)
Collaboration: Luca Fazzini and João Moreira Silva
Support: CEsA/CSG/ISEG/ULisboa
Read more:
Independência – Tchiweka Documentation Association Website
Exhibition ‘Deconstructing colonialism, Decolonising the imagination’ on display at the National Museum of Ethnology until November 2, 2025
Author: CEsA Communication (comunicacao@cesa.iseg.ulisboa.pt) with information from Tchiweka Documentation Association
Image: CEsA/Reproduction
