A country marked by revolution
Amilcar Cabral had a profound impact on the recent history of Cape Verde: it was his revolutionary struggle that led to the country's independence. So it's hardly surprising that his story is still often at the heart of documentary films today.
We can already mention Valerio Lopes' 2011 documentary series Cabralista, which follows the life of the fighter in three 56-minute episodes. The national hero had already inspired Ana Lúcia Ramos Lisboa's short documentary in 2001, which devoted a fine portrait to him(Amilcar Cabral). More recently, in 2015, Guenny K. Pires, very active on the young Cape Verdean cinema scene, directed the feature-length documentary The heart of Amilcar Cabral.
Portuguese and European influence
Many Portuguese directors continue to make films in the former colony, like Pedro Costa, star of independent auteur cinema and winner of several festival awards.
In Os Dois Irmãos , by Portuguese director Francisco Manso, André, a young Cape Verdean living in Lisbon, receives a letter from his father asking him to return home following a family problem. From the same director: O Testamento do Senhor Napumoceno (1997) and A Ilha dos Escravos (2008) were also filmed in the archipelago. A menina dos olhos grandes, by Fonseca Soares and Alexis Tsafas, transposes a traditional Cape Verdean fairy tale to the screen. Tsafas also shot Zenaida in the archipelago (2015).
In Cap-Vert mon amour, directed by Ana Lúcia Ramos Lisboa in 2007, three friends from Praia find themselves thrown into the heart of a dark rape story. Through this drama, the director also paints a poignant portrait of women's lives in the archipelago.
More historical, Ilhéu da Contenda (1996, Leão Lopes) traces the societal transition underway in 1964, a decade before independence (1975), as the aristocracy crumbles and a new class emerges in the population, with a mixed culture, between the traditions of the archipelago and those of the Portuguese colonists.
In his film-essay Sans Soleil (1982), Chris Marker draws a fine, poetic parallel between Cape Verde and Japan, "two extreme poles of survival", two archipelagos prey to the forces of nature.
A new dynamism for an international influence
The archipelago now regularly organizes festivals of international scope, with the aim of promoting national production and discovering nuggets from abroad.
Founded by filmmaker Guenny Pires, the Djarfogo International Film Festival (DIFF) is held between Praia and Fogo and offers a fine program. The aim of the festival's creators is to bring together filmmakers, artists and industry representatives to strengthen film production on Cape Verdean soil. In 2023, 125 films from 82 countries were presented, including 7 Cape Verdean films.
Building on the experience and success of this event, the country recently created a new institution dedicated to film and television production, "NuNac", the Cape Verde National Film Center. The center also aims to promote synergy between the creative and tourism industries, and is developing partnerships with its counterparts in West Africa and other Portuguese-speaking countries.
