Paper short abstract:

This paper will shed light on representational strategies, as well as the ethical, pedagogical, and historical dimensions in Sana Na N’Hada’s film Bissau d’Isabel (2005).

Paper long abstract:

Sana Na N'Hada is one of the most important cultural producers of Guinea-Bissau. Through his feature films and documentaries, he has been creating a historical archive spanning the late colonial and postcolonial periods. This paper will shed light on Sana's documentary Bissau d'Isabel (2005), a powerful film that encompasses historical, political, poetic, ethical, and educational elements in connection to the multicultural mosaic of the country's capital city—as emblematic of the nation—centering on the life experience of its eponymous subject. As the documentary moves from macrological to micrological levels of representation, Isabel emerges as a figure that is symbolic of the nation as a whole; her life story is in many ways the story of Guinea-Bissau—from the utopias of the liberation struggle to the shattered postcolonial dreams, and yet its boundless resilience and enduring hope.

My paper is based on a forthcoming article titled, "The Filmography of Guinea-Bissau's Sana na N'hada: From the Return of Amílcar Cabral to the Threat of Global Drug Trafficking" to be published in 2017 by Portuguese Literary & Cultural Studies. This paper builds on my extensive research on Lusophone African postcolonial cinema published in my book, Lusophone Africa: Beyond Independence (University of Minnesota Press, 2011), forthcoming in Portuguese in an expanded version (Edusp, 2017). Until today, the work of Sana Na N'Hada has not received the attention it deserves in spite of its importance for the understanding of Guinea-Bissau.