Liberation struggles, the “falling of the empire” and the birth [through images] of African nations

The fortieth anniversary of Portuguese decolonisation of Africa has acted as a catalyst in discussing how Portugal “imagined” colonial politics through moving images and how these propagandist portrayals began to be questioned by the Portuguese “Novo Cinema”. This can be seen in works that were censured and prohibited. Portuguese colonial cinematographic representations were later challenged by films made in the context of the liberation movements and by images that emerged out of the national cinematographic projection (Frodon) of the new Portuguese-speaking African countries. This conference intends to go some way in highlighting common aspects in the emergence of cinema in Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau, which have all been studied individually