"Cinema is what we do": rhetorics of renewal and adaptation in post-independence Angolan cinema (1982-1992)

Thesis

This thesis examines films made by four Angolan directors between 1982-1992. After 1975, the initial productivity of the early post-independence phase of Angolan cinema was followed by a prolonged crisis that would last until the early 2000s. Characterizations of this period as one of collapse, desolation and stagnation have been taken at face value and have shaped hegemonic perceptions of Angolan cinema from the 1980s and 1990s. Angolan national cinema has undoubtedly experienced major difficulties. The challenges faced by Angolan filmmakers should not be understated. However, this moment of crisis also brought creative renewal and self-examination. Responding to a complex political landscape and adverse cinematic conditions, several Angolan directors began to cultivate a new critical and artistic idiom through their films.

This thesis offers a critical challenge to established narratives of collapse and decline and argues that films made during this important period of Angolan cinema demonstrate a radical expansion of the politically dogmatic national cinema that developed under the first MPLA government. I propose that looking to these films enables us to understand in greater depth the development and legacy of Angola’s militant revolutionary cinema, as well as the distinctive, personal cinematic languages of its pioneering directors. Innovations in form, content and aesthetics made by Angolan filmmakers during this period underline the need to reframe this juncture of crisis and “collapse” as an important moment of creative vision, energy, innovation and resilience in the history of Angolan cinema.

Through close analysis of films directed by Asdrúbal Rebelo, Orlando Fortunato, Ruy Duarte de Carvalho and Mariano Bartolomeu, I focus on the themes of adaptation and dialogue to examine the rhetorical and aesthetic strategies of Angolan directors active during the 1980s and early 1990s. This thesis is the first substantial study on the development of Angolan cinema during these two decades.

Authors: Parry, C

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-9o27o6aab
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English