Flora Gomes

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Florentino Gomes , better known by his stage name Flora Gomes (born December 13, 1949 in Cadique , Portuguese Guinea ) is a Guinea-Bissau filmmaker . He is considered one of the most famous filmmakers in Guinea-Bissau and West Africa.

Life

Florentino Gomes was born on December 13, 1949 in the small town of Cadique on the border with French Guinea (now Guinea-Conakry ). This particularly heavily forested border region called Tombali later represented the southern front of the PAIGC , which was fighting underground against the Portuguese colonial power . Gomes' parents got involved in the underground, and he himself gained political awareness early on. Later Gomes was one of the earliest students at the PAIGC's Conakry Resident Pilot School ( Escola Piloto ). Gomes was considered an admirer of the PAIGC leader Amílcar Cabral .

In 1972 Gomes decided, ostensibly on the advice of Cabral, to move to Cuba to study film at the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC) under the guidance of the famous director Santiago Álvarez . Gomes later moved to Senegal, where he continued studying with Paulin Soumanou Vieyra . Together with his friend Sana Na H'Hada (Sérgio Pina), who also comes from Guinea-Bissau and is studying at the ICAIC , he produced the first two short films in 1976 and 1978: O Regresso de Cabral (The Return of Cabral) and Anós Nô Oça Luta (We trust to fight us).

After nine years of experimentation and testing, Gomes produced his first feature film in 1987 called Mortu Nega (The Negative Death). The film, shown at various international film festivals, was a great success - Gomes received several prizes and awards for his work. These include two jury mentions at the Venice Film Festival , the “Oumarou Ganda” prize at the eleventh FESCPACO , and the second prize at the Aveiro Film Festival . In Mortu Nega , Gomes criticizes the independence movement and longstanding ruling party PAIGC, among other things, for not following its earlier ideals since Guinea-Bissau gained independence. He portrays veterans in Guinea-Bissau who are facing challenges in the country's post-colonial, corrupt society.

His film debut was followed by several other successful films: Olhos Azuis de Yonta (The Blue Eyes of Yontas) 1992, Po di Sangui 1997, and Nha Fala - My Voice 2002. In 2007, he made the acclaimed documentary As Duas Faces together with the Portuguese filmmaker Diana Andringa da Guerra (The Two Faces of War), in which Portuguese and Guinea-Bissau veterans talk about the War of Independence.

Many of his films have received awards from African and international film festivals.

Works

  • 1976 - O Regresso de Cabral (short film, documentary)
  • 1977 - A Reconstrução (short film, documentary) - together with Sérgio Pina
  • 1978 - Anos no Oça Luta (short film, documentary) - together with Sérgio Pina
  • 1987 - Mortu Nega
  • 1992 - Os Olhos Azuis de Yonta
  • 1994 - A máscara (short film, documentary)
  • 1996 - Po di Sangui
  • 2002 - Nha Fala
  • 2007 - As Duas Faces da Guerra (documentary) - together with Diana Andringa
  • 2010 - A República di Mininus
  • 2013 - República di Mininus

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Gomes, Florentino "Flora" (1949–) . In: Peter Karibe Mendy, Richard A. Lobban, Jr. (Eds.): Historical dictionary of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau . 4th edition. Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2013, ISBN 978-0-8108-8027-6 , pp. 209 f .
personal data
SURNAME Gomes, Flora
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gomes, Florentino
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Guinea-Bissau filmmaker
DATE OF BIRTH December 13, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Cadique , Portuguese Guinea