“I make films to be seen”: The narrative issue of Flora Gomes

Abstract

The feature films by Flora Gomes: Mortu nega (1988), Udju azul di Yonta (1992), Po di sangui (1996), Nha fala (2002) and Republica di mininus (2012) narrate stories that speak of transits, music, woman, children, war, (neo)colonialism, cosmogony, life, death, love, birth, migration, tradition, modernity, collectivity; taking place in the countryside, or outdoors generally, in an ironic, critical and metaphorical tone of speech. In this sense, the present abstract “I make films to be seen”: an analysis of the film narrative of Flora Gomes” proposes to shed light on the elements of narrative cinematography of the fiction films of Flora Gomes which are present in the speech, themes, soundtrack, orality, time, duration, space, camera movements, actors’ preparation, the work of illumination of the black body, the scenery, and the visual metaphors of this director. Note that the present text is an extract of some of Gomes’s trademarks from doctoral thesis defended in 2018.