The Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the … · du Quai Branly in Paris, ... York University, in collaboration with the Center for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean

The Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples, York

University, in collaboration with partners under its SSHRC funded Slavery, Memory and Citizenship

research initiative, presents:

The inaugural edition of the Harriet Tubman International Research Film Festival took place in Toronto at York University and in Québec at Laval University during April 2008. Subsequently, it traveled to more than 10 additional cities worldwide, culminating with screenings held in November 2008.

Building on the successes of the first festival, the second edition began on May 11th, 2009 at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, France and will return to Toronto’s York University and Québec’s Laval University in February 2010. The final installment of the International Research Film Festival will kick off in Toronto with a special screening in cooperation with the multidisciplinary research conference, “Rethinking Multiculturalism: Brazil, Canada, and the United States.” This year’s screenings are also an important part of the Tubman Institute’s recognition of Black History Month, which also includes Performing Diaspora 2010, a celebration of Afro-Diasporic expressive culture.

The festival features films that address issues of slavery in its past and contemporary forms. Films also explore issues of culture, memory, and citizenship among descendants of African slaves in several different societies worldwide.

An international committee selected the films for the 2009 edition of the festival. DVDs of each film were then distributed to the universities hosting the screenings. A complete list of films is available in the library of the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil and Universidade Federal Fluminense (BCG), and can be accessed online at www.historia.uff.br/Labhoi. The specific films shown to the public at each edition is decided by a local organizing committee. Prior to coming to Toronto and Québec, the festival toured the following cities: Paris (May 2009), Dakar (June 2009), Abidjan/Cotonou/Lomé/Ngaoundéré (June/July 2009), Port-au-Prince (August 2009),

Ouagadougou (October 2009), and Rio de Janeiro/São João de Meriti (November 2009).

TORONTO PROGRAMMING JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010 (All screenings are in the evening)

January 30 | Nat Taylor Cinema, York UniversitySpecial pre-screening for the close of the conference “Rethinking Multiculturalism: Brazil, Canada, and the United

States”, York University, Toronto. “Rethinking Multiculturalism” is hosted by the Chair in Multiculturalism, Department

of Equity, York University, in collaboration with the Center for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC),

The Harriet Tubman Institute, and the Michael Baptista Lecture

8:30 - Introductory Remarks — Professor Hebe Mattos, Laboratory of Oral History and Historical Images, Federal University of Fluminense (LABHOI/UFF), Rio de Janeiro

9:00 - “Jongos, Calangos, e Folias: Musical Negra, Memória, e Poesia” [“Black Music, Memory, and Poetry”] (45 min., 2007)

9:45 - “Versos e Cacetes: O Jogo do Pau na Cultura Afro-Fluminense” [“The Stick Game in Afro-Fluminense Culture”] (Trailer, 5 min., 2009)

10:00 - “Ibiri: Tua Boca Fala pro Nós” [“Ibiri, Your Mouth Speaks for Us”] - Public Prize Winner, Paris Film Festival 2009 (20 min., 2008)

10:30 - “A Hidden Guarantee: Identity and Gule Wankulu between Mozambique and Somalia” - Jury Prize Winner, Paris Film Festival 2009 (17 min., 2008)

January 31 | Nat Taylor Cinema, York University

1:00 - “Memórias do Cativeiro” [“Memories of Cativiero”] (42 min., 2005)

2:00 - “Axé Dignidad!” [“Axé Dignity!”] (51 min., 2008)

3:00 - “Devotos da Cor” [“Devotees of Color”] (20 min., 1999)

3:30 - Afro-Iranian Lives (46 min., 2007)

4:30 - “Ibiri: Tua Boca Fala por Nós” [“Ibiri, Your Mouth Speaks for Us”] - Public Prize Winner, Paris Film Festival 2009 [20 min., 2008)

5:00 - “A Hidden Guarantee: Identity and Gule Wankulu between Mozambique and Somália” - Jury Prize Winner, Paris Film Festival 2009 (17 min., 2008)

February 1 | 280 N. York Lanes, York University

6:00 - “Navio Negreiro” [“Slave Ship”] (46 min., 2008)




6:00 - “Cê me dá Licença: Capitão Julinho e o Congado de Fagundes” [“Please, Allow Me: Captain Julinho and the Festival of Fagundes”] (52 min., 2008)

7:00 - “Ibiri: Tua Boca Fala pro Nós” [“Ibiri, Your Mouth Speaks for Us”] - Public Prize Winner, Paris Film

Festival 2009 (20 min., 2008)



6:00 - “Gisèle Omindarewa”(71 min., 2009)




6:00 - “The Bloody Writing is Forever Torn” (40 min., 2008)


7:30 - “A Hidden Guarantee: Identity and Gule Wankulu between Mozambique and Somalia”- Jury Prize Winner, Paris Film Festival 2009 (17 min., 2008)


6:00 - “Trous de Mémoires: La mémoire de la Traite négrière et de l’Esclavage à Bordeaux” [“Memory Lapses: The Memory of the Slave Trade and Slavery in Bordeaux”] (55 min., 2006)



S Y N O P S E S :

“JONGOS CALANGOS E FOLIAS: MUSICA NEGRA, MEMÓRIA, E POESIA” [“JONGOS, CALANGOS, AND FOLIAS: BLACK MUSIC, MEMORY, AND POETRY”] (45 min., 2007) Hebe Mattos and Martha Abreu | Laboratory of Oral History and Historical Images, Federal University of Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro.

“Jongos, Calangos e Folias” addresses the power of verse as cultural inheritance and political weapon in the music and dance practices jongo, calango, and folia de reis within rural black communities in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Residents of these communities are descended from the last African slaves brought to work the coffee plantations in Brazil’s Paraíba Valley. Research for this film and the creation of LABHOI’s audiovisual

archive (www.historia.uff.br/jongos) were supported by Petrobrás’ division for Cultural and Intangible Patrimony in 2005.

“VERSOS E CACETES: O JOGO DO PAUL NA CULTURA AFRO-FLUMINENSE” [“THE STICK GAME IN AFRO-FLUMINENSE CULTURE”] (37 min., 2009) Hebe Mattos (Laboratory of Oral History and Historical Images, Federal University of Fluminense) and Matthias Assunção (University of Essex).

“Versos e Cacetes” completes the trilogy of LABHOI’s historiographic videos about the descendents of the last generation of slaves from the old coffee zone of Rio de Janeiro. This film is being premiered in this edition of the festival. It documents the stick game and its insertion in Afro Fluminense culture in the Paraíba Valley. Participants are descendents of the slaves who worked the region’s coffee plantations during the 19th century. The memory of the game produces new perspectives on the history of capoeira, Brazil’s world famous musical martial art. Produced by LABHOI/UFF based on the archive of Petrobrás’ Cultural Memory and Black Music with support from Project Capoeira Live 2007.

“IBIRI: TUA BOCA FALA PRO NÓS” [“IBIRI, YOUR MOUTH SPEAKS FOR US”] (20 min., 2008) Nilma Teixeira Accioli | Instituto Marlin Azul and The Federal University of Fluminense.

“Ibiri” summarizes the history of the Conceição da Silva sisters, the last members of a group of slaves brought from the Congo to the Papicu Region of São Pedro de Aldeia, Rio de Janeiro. After violent expulsion from their homes, the sisters live today in isolation, cultivating the customs of their ancestors and dreaming of a land of their own to farm and live out the remainder of their lives in peace. This film won the Public Prize at the French edition of the Film Festival.

“A HIDDEN GUARANTEE: IDENTITY AND GULE WANKULU BETWEEN MOZAMBIUE AND SOMALIA” (17 min., 2008) Francesca Declich | University of Urbino.

“Hidden Guarantee” is an ethnographic film based on research conducted in Malawi and Mozambique by an Italian researcher. This film is the winner of the Jury Prize of the French edition of the festival 2009 at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris.

“MEMÓRIAS DO CATIVEIRO” [“MEMORIES OF CAPTIVITY”] (42 min., 2005) Hebe Mattos, Martha Abreu, Guilherme Fernandez, and Isabel Castro | Laboratory of Oral History and Historical Images, Federal University of Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro.

“Memórias do Cativeiro” is the first of the historical documentaries by LABHOI/UFF (Laboratory of Oral History and Historical Images] based on its archive of interviews with descendents of the last generation of slaves from the old coffee regions of the southeast. The film is based on the book of the same name by Hebe Mattos and Ana Lugão Rios.

“AXÉ DIGNIDADE” [“DIGNIFIED SPIRIT”] (51 min., 2008) Francine Saillant, Pedro Simonard, and Ialorixa Torodi de Ogum | Laval University, Quebec, Canada.

“Axé Dignidade” addresses the social and religious work realized by the Ialorixa and congregation of the Terreiro Ala Koro Wo in their fight for the rights of Afro-Brazilians.

“DEVOTOS DA COR” [“DEVOTEES OF COLOR”] (20 min., 1999) Mariza de Carvalho Soares LABHOI/Federal University of Fluminense.

“Devotos da Cor” is based on research conducted from 1997-1999 on the history of the Church of St. Iphigenia, located in Rio de Janeiro. This church was built by a group of African slaves and freedmen in the middle of the eighteenth century. The structure remains well preserved today and is still used as the site for feasts and processions by a brotherhood of Afro-Brazilian men The film was developed in conjunction with a group of students in History and Communication at the Federal University of Fluminense.

“AFRO-IRANIAN LIVES” (46 min., 2007) Behnaz A. Mirzai | Brock University

This documentary explores the history of the African slave trade as well as African cultural tradition in Iran. It pays particular attention to socio-economic activities, performances and rituals of the descendants of African slaves in rural and urban communities in the provinces of Sistan va Baluchistan, Hurmuzgan, and Khuzestan.

“NAVIO NEGREIRO” [“SLAVE SHIP”] (46 min., 2008) Francine Saillant, Pedro Simonard, and Ialorixa Torodi de Ogum | Laval University, Québec, Canada.

“Navio Negreiro” is a pedegogical film demonstrating a theatrical reconstruction of the arrival of slaves and the Orixás (African deities) in Brazil.

“CÊ ME DÁ LICENÇA: CAPITÃO JULINHO E O CONGADO DE FAGUNDES” [“ALLOW ME: CAPTAIN JULINHO AND THE CONGOADA OF FAGUNDES”] (52 min., 2008) Sebastião Rios Graduate Program in Sociology Federal University of Goiás.

This film presents the person and work of Captain Julinho Antônio Filho, who is a bearer of the old traditions of Reinado de Nossa Senhora do Rosário (The Reign of Our Lady of the Rosary). Captain Julinho knows the language and songs of the Rosary that he learned as a boy from his grandfather, father, and uncles from the Congo. The celebration he leads in Fagundes preserves the religious precepts and the cultural practices of the African people who were brought to the Americas. These people performed the rituals of religious initiation and devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary, as well as other African Spirits, with ngomas (African drums). In doing so, they juxtapose African Deity worship and reverence for Catholic Saints, all accompanied by beautiful music .

“GISÈLE OMINDAREWA” (71 min., 2009) Clarice Ehlers Peixoto and Sueli Nascimento INARRA/Images, Narratives, and Cultural Practices—CNPq, State University of Rio de Janeiro, DaTerra Cultural Productions.

“Gisèle Omindarewa” is French, and a mãe de santo, or spiritual leader, in candomblé in Rio de Janeiro. From a middle-class Parisian family—her father was in the military and later, a teacher; her mother, a musician), Gisèle has lived for many years in the lower parts of Fluminense. The film looks to reconstruct her life history through her memories of childhood and adolescence, her participation in the French Resistance (alongside her father), her experiences in Africa as a

diplomat, her initiation into candomblé in the 1960s, and in particular, her actualization as a mãe de santo in Fluminense. These are the moments of her life that intersect with the collective life in the Terreiro Santa Cruz de Serra.

THE BLOODY WRITING IS FOREVER TORN (40 min., 2008) Ronald Hoffman | The Omohundro Institute of Early Americans.

“The Bloody Writing is Forever Torn” captures the experience of holding a conference on the abolition of the slave trade in Western Africa, from which 1.8 million enslaved people were exported to the Americas and the Caribbean between 1500 and 1867.

TROUS DE MÉMOIRES: LA MÉMOIRE DE LA TRAITE NÉGRIÈRE ET DE L’ESCLAVAGE À BORDEAUX [“MEMORY LAPSES: THE MEMORY OF THE SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVERY IN BORDEAUX”]

(55 min., 2006) Sebastien Gouverneur, Nicolas Guibert, and Batiste Combret.

Never has the city of Bordeaux’s black past been questioned. This documentary travels the streets of the city, where the permanent traces of a painful past and a human drama without precedent the slave trade are inscribed in memory.

Documents

The Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the … · du Quai Branly in Paris, ... York University, in collaboration with the Center for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean