Lusophone African Cinema
Lusophone African Cinema
- Paulo de MedeirosPaulo de MedeirosDepartment of English & Comparative Literary Studies, University of Warwick
Summary
Lusophone African cinema refers to the various cinemas of Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé e Príncipe. The question of when to date the beginnings of Lusophone African cinema is complex. Independence could be seen as a convenient turning point that can be used to demarcate between what might be referred to as colonial and postcolonial cinema. To understand the postindependence development of the various national cinemas, it is also important to consider film production and reception during colonial times. Material circumstances such as the lack of infrastructure and skilled people, as well as—in the case of some regions—prolonged and devastating civil wars after the wars of independence, have greatly hindered the flowering of those cinemas. In spite of enormous difficulties, many significant and internationally critically acclaimed films have been produced.
Lusophone African films are characterized by a mix: While focusing on national and local issues they also can appeal to ever wider and more diverse audiences. Due to both historical conditions and present vicissitudes, these cinemas are intrinsically transnational in all their aspects. Some of the fundamental questions addressed in these films concern the formation of a national imaginary and identity, as well as the working through of trauma. They exemplify modes of resistance that are not limited to a history of colonial oppression but apply equally to present social problems.
Mozambique created a National Institute of Cinema immediately after the revolution as the government was very much keen on using film to shape the new nation, and it is arguably the country with the most developed film production. In Angola, however, as television production was already in place, film took longer to develop. Cape Verde, although a relatively small country, has been able to produce a variety of important films. Both Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé e Príncipe have a relatively low level of production, yet that is also changing in part due to the use of video and the Internet. Streaming platforms have discovered the quality and potential of Lusophone African cinema. The wide international audiences thus gained clearly point to a successful transition to a new stage in the development of Lusophone African cinema as world cinema.
Keywords
Subjects
- Cultural History
- Image of Africa
- Southern Africa
- West Africa