Spell Reel

In the 1960s, Amílcar Cabral, leader of the independence movement in Guinea-Bissau, sends young people to study cinema in Cuba so that they can document the war against Portugal (1963-1974) and the beginnings of the new regime when they return. From these images shot by the filmmakers Sana Na N’Hada, Flora Gomes, José Bolama Cobumba or Josefina Crato only a few fragments have survived which were rediscovered in 2011 and restored by the Arsenal in Berlin. This fragile and incomplete material testifying to the birth of Guinean cinema, is the starting point of Spell Reel, a multi-layered film in which Portuguese artist Filipa César makes the past and its struggles resonate with those of today, through a polyphonic montage of stories and places. In its experimental and collaborative form, Spell Reel is not only an adventure about memory but also a powerful gesture of transmission and sharing in which this fragile political and artistic heritage of Guinean cinema finds universal and contemporary resonance. (Alice Leroy)

followed by the performance Palmistry:
Bubaque is an island in Guinea-Bissau where, around World War I, a German factory was built which supported the German warfare industry. Today, its ruins are the infrastructure not only for the village but also for a blinded shared memory.