Développement: le cas Mozambique

"Ritual reversals" or "rituals of rebellion" are concepts used for mock rituals performed in Southern and Eastern Africa. During fertility rituals, like rain ceremonies, women in their songs and dances demonstrate obscene behaviour while they behave like men. These are secret performances open strictly for elderly men and women. Still, we were invited to record the rain making ceremony in the land of Chief Chassuka, Manika Province in Mozambique, in order to document the ritual for the younger generations. These rituals are a fading tradition probably due to the special character of the songs and dances.

Two boys with different experiences and goals meet up in a sprawling African market. One is looking for a job, to get back what was stolen from him and return home. The other will do anything to avoid having to go back with his family. They become friends and together they reinvent the world.

A Luta Continua explains the military struggle of the Liberation Front of Mozambique (FRELIMO) against the Portuguese. Produced and narrated by American activists Robert Van Lierop, it details the relationship of the liberation to the wider regional and continental demands for self-determination against minority rule. It notes the complicit roles of foreign governments and companies in supporting Portugal against the African nationalists. Footage from the front lines of the struggle helps contextualize FRELIMO's African socialist ideology, specifically the role of the military in building the new nation, a commitment to education, demands for sexual equality, the introduction of medical aid into the countryside, and the role of culture in creating a single national identity.

Karen is a Muslim independent young woman who advocates for Sharia in the Island of Mozambique but is filled with doubts and contradictions about her identity and the multicultural community in which she lives in a place of historical confluence of cultures.

A small island, a great history. Long before giving its name to the country, the Mozambique island had a fundamental role in the Indian Ocean during centuries. Anchor point for caravels, meeting point for pirates, it is a melting pot of races. It raises its walls in the middle of the sea. Its winding streets full of life reveal small palaces, churches and white houses. Its inhabitants are eccentric characters, proud of the island's past history. As we wander through the streets we meet an historian, a maritime archaeologist, a fisherman, the "doorman" of the island, a dancer, many spirits...

Examines the conflicts between true love and social conventions. Sheila and Alfredo find themselves at an emotional crossroads, facing ethical dilemmas and questioning the lies they perpetuate to avoid painful confrontations. They embark on a journey of self-acceptance and the pursuit of happiness, challenging the norms imposed by society.

Sofia, a young girl in Mozambique who is studying to be a doctor, finds that her professor wants more from her than hard work. An unwillingness to compromise her values and potentially her health, may cost her a place there.

Limpopo, dating from 1970, directed and produced by Jorge de Sousa, is a story about safaris where the protagonist was a rich industrialist from Porto. It was filmed in Lourenço Marques, in the Limpopo colony and the Maputo elephant reserve.

Racismo: Uma Descolonização Em Curso

Based on the book by Henning Mankell (Sweden), this story takes place in Mozambique and is about a young boy, Nelio, who loses his entire family during a time of civil war. A wounded Nelio is found by a baker in the capital Mapouto; refusing medical treatment, the boy instead asks for sanctuary so he can tell his terrible tale. This he proceeds to do, starting with how the fighters arrived in his village and slaughtered many, to his captivity, his escape and his teaming with other orphaned street urchins to become their leader in survival.

Mueda was a massacre. The name is that of the village in Northern Mozambique where in 1960 it took place. The Portuguese colonial regime did the killing. In independent Mozambique, those inhabitants of Mueda who survived regularly re-enact the massacre in situ. They themselves play the roles of victims, assassins, and spectators. Ruy Guerra, now a Brazilian but born in Lourenço Marques (now Maputo, the capital of Mozambique), filmed this extraordinary creation of liberated popular culture, intercutting it with first-hand interviews on the massacre. The mix is compelling, and the grave yet joyous spectacle unique.

Sick in Africa follows the true stories of several Mozambicans from the Yawo tribe who are ill, but searching for healing and answers.

Great Rift - Der große Graben

Pangolins are unique, bizarre, adorable creatures, but due to the demand for their scales on the illegal market, they’re also the most trafficked animal in the world. To turn the tide, wildlife veterinarian Elias Mubobo knows the solution rests in the hands of the local community — many of whom have never seen a pangolin in the wild.

A sequence of archive images filmed by Schefer's grandfather, a former colonial administrator, is the starting point for an experimental documentary on the history and memory of Portuguese decolonisation. Double or split memory: the lived and descriptive memory of the colonizers (their texts, their images) against the fabricated memory of their descendants.

In 2007, Beau attempted to paddle 4000kms from one side of Africa to the other. Starting in Mozambique, he continued along the Southern African coast, allowing five months to complete the voyage. Battling surf, deep sea swell, and too many days waiting for the wind, Beau only completed 2000kms of the original plan.

Dr. Emma Collins and her team are spending their third summer on the island of Little Happy studying the effect of climate change on the great white sharks who come to the nearby nursery every year to give birth. Along with the last two inhabitants of this former fishing village, their peaceful life is disrupted when a "scientific" team led by her ex-boyfriend and marine biologist Richard show up looking for three bull sharks who we soon learn aren't just any bull sharks.

An American pilot assists the Portuguese colonial police who are battling a gang of criminals involved in drug smuggling from Lisbon to Mozambique to Zanzibar.

Ethnographic film

Tizangara, Mozambique. After the peace agreement. A mystery. UN soldiers exploding. An investigation is begun and Massimo is appointed to solve the mystery. Joaquim will have to translate, not only the words but the facts, in order for him to understand.