MÁRIO
A film by Billy Woodberry
2024, 120 minutes
2024, 120 minutes
No. 436
Documentary
Documentary
Description
Mário follows the story and legacy of Mário Pinto de Andrade, founder of the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), Pan-African thinker and activist whose critical mission within the African liberation movements of the 60’s and 70’s laid the groundwork for the identity and representation of the newly formed African nations after European colonization.
Growing up in Angola, one of the last European colonies in Africa, Mário left his home in 1928 to study in the Portuguese metropolis of Lisbon for what would become a lifelong exile. With companions from other Portuguese-held territories — Cape Verde, Mozambique, São Tomé and Guinea-Bissau — Mário coordinates the bases of the liberation movements of the Portuguese colonies from Paris where he is secretary at Présence Africaine magazine and an active member in the city’s intellectual scene. Internationalist solidarity and a deep love for his homeland leads Mário to devote himself completely to the liberation of the African colonies, traveling the globe on a mission for the success of the flowering liberation movements in Africa and worldwide.
The legacy of Mário Pinto de Andrade is evident in the rich archive of his socio-economic analysis of modern African affairs, his quest for a proper understanding of the origins of identity in Africa, his poetry, plays and screenplays, and in the memories of his family, friends and disciples, who tell of his great spirit and rigorous mind, and universally, of a deep admiration from all those who encountered him.
Growing up in Angola, one of the last European colonies in Africa, Mário left his home in 1928 to study in the Portuguese metropolis of Lisbon for what would become a lifelong exile. With companions from other Portuguese-held territories — Cape Verde, Mozambique, São Tomé and Guinea-Bissau — Mário coordinates the bases of the liberation movements of the Portuguese colonies from Paris where he is secretary at Présence Africaine magazine and an active member in the city’s intellectual scene. Internationalist solidarity and a deep love for his homeland leads Mário to devote himself completely to the liberation of the African colonies, traveling the globe on a mission for the success of the flowering liberation movements in Africa and worldwide.
The legacy of Mário Pinto de Andrade is evident in the rich archive of his socio-economic analysis of modern African affairs, his quest for a proper understanding of the origins of identity in Africa, his poetry, plays and screenplays, and in the memories of his family, friends and disciples, who tell of his great spirit and rigorous mind, and universally, of a deep admiration from all those who encountered him.
Festivals
Official Selection, International Film Festival Rotterdam
Official Selection, DocumentaMadrid
