FLM6036/POR6036-Slavery, Colonialism and Postcolonialism in African Cinema-2023/24

Looking at cinema as an increasingly prominent medium for the transmission of historical knowledge (Deleuze, Sorlin, Landy, etc.), this module analyzes the representation of history in African Cinema in three key moments of the continent’s history. It initially focuses on Mozambique’s major post-independence audio-visual initiative, headed by Jean-Luc Godard, Jean Rouch and Ruy Guerra – the National Institute of Cinema – and the role of film in nation-building. It then addresses film representations of historical trauma and the reconstruction of shattered lives in the context of Civil Wars in Mozambique and Angola, contrasting them with Sebastião Salgado’s photographic documentation of the impact of war on African children and civilians. It also analyzes Guinea-Bissau’s post-independence engagement in dialogue with the West through the musical, for the projection of an African identity and the tensions between tradition and modernization. It finally addresses the dearth of images of slavery in African Cinema and the way resistance to power imbalances and the communities of run-away slaves finds space on the Brazilian screen and, more recently, in tri-continental co-productions. No previous knowledge of Portuguese is required. All films have subtitles in English.