CARNIVAL IN BISSAU
Guinea-Bissau | 1980 | 30 min | col. | o.v. French
In the nascent state of Guinea-Bissau, Sarah Maldoror documents a carnival that is more than a celebration: it’s the birth of a new identity. The costumes, music, and dances are not a legacy of colonialism, but tools for rewriting the present. Her vibrant, sensuous, and political film observes a people reappropriating its body, urban space, and history. Maldoror’s loving, participatory approach manages to convey the emotion of a nation that celebrates, resists, and asserts itself. A collective dance that becomes living memory. (L.F.)
Local Time
- Timezone: America/New_York
- Date: 04 Nov 2025
- Time: 10:30 - 10:30
Location
- Cinema Astra - Piazza Cesare Beccaria, 9 50121 Florence (FI)
Organizer
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Sarah Maldoror
Sarah Maldoror (1929–2020) was a French director, Pan-African by adoption, revolutionary voice, and the first female filmmaker in African cinema. She chronicled the wars of liberation in the former Portuguese colonies, with a particular focus on the role of women in the struggle. After founding the first theater company of black actors in France, Les Griots, in 1956, she was assistant director to Pontecorvo for The Battle of Algiers in 1966, and then to William Klein for Festival panafricain d'Alger (1969). Her first feature film was also the first ever made by an African female director: Sambizanga (1972). Her other major works include her debut short film Monangambééé (1969), Aimé Césaire, un homme une terre (1976), Aimé Césaire – Le Masque des mots (1987), Portrait de Assia Djebar (1989), and Léon G. Damas (1994).
