Calling Cabral

Memória

Shaped by mysticism, resistance, and the voice of revolutionary leader Amílcar Cabral, we take a personal and poetic journey through the anti-colonial past and present of Guinea-Bissau.

The voice of Amílcar Cabral, leader of the struggle against Portuguese colonialism in Guinea-Bissau, and one of Africa’s foremost revolutionary leaders, echoes in the present day. Assassinated in 1973 on the eve of his country’s independence, today his voice is embodied in the land, people, and spirit of Guinea-Bissau.

A lively cinematic dialogue, made collaboratively by filmmakers from Guinea-Bissau and Portugal, this film speaks of memory, fear, and liberation. Constructing a lyrical and rhythmic remembrance to unite what history has defined as separate. As Guineans were separated from the Portuguese, and as the Portuguese separated themselves from their colonial past, this film brings these separations to the surface, not as a certificate of guilt, nor glory, but as a pulse of reconciliation born from an intercultural imaginary. This is not just a film, but an invitation to listen to history, and to listen to the land that speaks.

This film will screen as part of the short film compilation Learning from the Living, Learning from the Dead.