Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how Papaveronoir - a Portuguese film production company for contemporary African film - has been challenging eurocentrism by putting former Portuguese colonies, its national and regional culture, history and tradition at the center of the play.

Paper long abstract:

Colonialism has a clear and persistent legacy in most African countries. It is impossible to discuss the cultural, social, and political landscapes in Africa without understanding the impact of the former. There is no alternative to coming to terms with a country's colonial past and deconstructing it, but to break the silence and create space for open dialogue on colonialism and its legacy.

Portugal - once one of the largest and longest-lived empire in the world - has long suffered from what some observers define as "official amnesia", "a blocked memory" or "conspiracies of silence", when it comes to decolonization, questions of representation, and responsibility for history. However, over the last few decades, Portuguese cinema joined the process of decolonization of the mind. Since 2013, Papaveronoir, a Portuguese film production company for contemporary African film has been contributing to the postcolonial debate in cinema. This trend is represented in the film trilogy "The Battle of Tabatô" (2013), "Our Madness" (2018), and the upcoming movie "Kwanza", all produced in formed Portuguese colonies: Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and Angola. Both in terms of its production method and narrative, the films present a cinematic approach to postcolonial discourse - one that takes the memories of people from former Portuguese colonies, how they experienced and remember late colonialism, the colonial wars, and their lives in postcolonial societies. This paper, will explore how Papaveronoir has been challenging eurocentrism by putting former Portuguese colonies, its national and regional culture, history and tradition at the center of the play, and what that could entail.