With introductions by Otiniel 'Mano' da Silva, the founder and artistic director of Africadelic, and Kinito van Dunem, chocolate entrepreneur and general coordinator of the recently established Casa de Angola nos PaĂses Baixos.
IndependĂȘncia
"We were ordinary men and women, of several generations, from different regions of Angola and from different walks of life. This is our memory." This is how director Fradique, also known as MĂĄrio Bastos, introduces his documentary IndependĂȘncia, a film about the struggle for independence against Portuguese colonial rule. It started in 1961 in the north of the country, eventually involving the whole country. After 13 years of fighting, the Portuguese finally realised that this battle could not be won: in 1975, Angola gained its independence. This November, it will be exactly 50 years ago.
Fradique, one of the most influential directors in contemporary African cinema, tells the story of the independence struggle through archive footage, historical reconstructions and personal testimonies of the key figures in that struggle. But that history is not isolated, Fradique shows, it fits into the socio-political context of decolonisation on the continent in the 1960s and 1970s.
