A Story from Africa

Name: A Story from Africa
Start: 2024-05-31UTC17:00
Location: Museo Reina Sofia. Edif. Nouvel. Auditorio 200.

Billy Woodberry

Portugal

2019

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Synopsis

A handful of photographs that have miraculously survived the passing of time, these are the origin and only images in A Story from Africa. The pictures take us back to the 1907 Portuguese Campaign of Pacification against the Cuamato tribe in the south of Angola following the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, when the European empires carved up the African territories. The source material of this work comes from a book by Velloso de Castro, who visually documented this episode in history, one very predictably neglected from a colonialist point of view. At the same time, however, the record shows how the Cuamato people reacted to being subjugated and conquered by the Portuguese and a few other unsuspecting allies: among them we find Calipalula, a Soba (traditional chief) who joined the Portuguese troops with an eye to defeating the rival tribe.

The screening of this medium-length film is to be accompanied by a keynote talk from Billy Woodberry, who, in addition to making films, has also been teaching at the prestigious California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) since 1989.

Organization: Museo Reina Sofía y Documenta Madrid.

Director biography

Billy Woodberry

Born in Dallas, Texas, Billy Woodberry (1950) was educated at the UCLA Film School where he was part of a Black independent film movement known as the L.A. Rebellion. He debuted in 1980 with the short film The Pocketbook and in 1984 his feature film Bless Their Little Hearts received much attention at the Berlinale. His first feature film is a pioneer and essential work of this movement, influenced by Italian neo-realism and the work of Third Cinema filmmakers. The film was awarded with an OCIC and Ecumenical Jury awards at the Berlin International Film Festival and was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2013.

And When I Die, I Won’t Stay Dead (2015) was the opening film of MoMA’s Doc Fortnight in 2016. The film premiered at the 53rd Viennale, Vienna International Film Festival (2015), and has been featured at festivals nationally and internationally.
His short film documentary, Marseille Après La Guerre (2016), is a portrait of dock workers in post-WWII Marseille, many of whom were of African descent, and pays homage to Senegalese film director, Ousmane Sembéne. Marseille Après La Guerre received acclaim after its screenings at the Roy and Edna Disney Theater CalArts’ Downtown Center for Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles (2016), Courtisane Film Festival, Gent (2016), and Instituto Moreira Salles, Rio de Janeiro (2016).

Woodberry’s films have been screened at the Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals, Viennale, Rotterdam and his works have been displayed at several art venues such as Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Harvard Film Archive, Camera Austria Symposium, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Tate Modern and Centre Pompidou. Woodberry has been a faculty member of the California Institute of the Arts since 1989.