Series Site
“Tell no lies,” the influential African thinker and anticolonial leader Amílcar Cabral advocated in his 1965 call to practice a revolutionary democracy—an aspiration that also underpins a diverse range of films that explore the liberation struggles of the former Portuguese colonies of Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique. One of Cabral’s foundational goals was to create decolonizing forms of education through militant schools—and via cinema. This “re-Africanizing” cinema drew on radical content in newsreels, speeches, songs, and novels to reveal history as it unfolded; later films also utilized radical forms, from reenactments and fictional reconstructions to personal testimony and artist histories. European filmmakers such as Sarah Maldoror, Mario Marret, and Jean Rouch created anticolonial films in solidarity; some provided training and resources, as did Jean-Luc Godard and Chris Marker. Independence and the birth of African nations also marked the birth of African cinemas, including pioneering films by Josefina Crato, Flora Gomes, and Sana na N’Hada and by Ruy Guerra. Some of these historic films have recently re-emerged from African archives and several are shown in restorations.
The legacy of the colonial occupation continues to be critiqued in recent films addressing ongoing issues such as immigration and the exploitation of land and resources. Contemporary Portuguese filmmakers and artists—including Daniel Barroca, Margarida Cardoso, Filipa César, Pedro Costa, and Susana de Sousa Dias—work with archives, personal collections, and African collaborators to fill gaps and interrogate silences in this complex ongoing history.
We are delighted that Filipa César will be in residency for the three concluding programs of Tell No Lies. Her film essays and performance films radically examine colonial and postcolonial struggles in Guinea-Bissau through research, collaborations, archival restorations, workshops, and community projects. Her Navigating the Pilot School (2016, 12 mins), made with Sónia Vas Borges, will be shown on BAMPFA’s outdoor screen from March 21 through April 24 at 10:00, 2:00, and 6:00. Luta ca caba inda—the struggle is not over yet.
—Kathy Geritz, Former Film Curator