In 2011, an archive of film and audio material re-emerged in Guinea-Bissau that documented the liberation struggle against the colonial power Portugal (1963 - ’74). SPELL REEL (G/Portugal 2017) by Filipa César is the result of a multi-layered research and digitalization project in cooperation with the Guinean filmmakers and liberation fighters Sana na N’Hada and Flora Gomes. After studying film in Cuba in the early 1960s, the two began using the camera as an observer. The material that was found again was digitalized by Arsenal, to then be screened in various places, commented, discussed and newly imagined. An itinerant, transnational cinema has made the archive into a place between remote villages in Guinea-Bissau and European capitals, where people search for alternatives to a world in upheaval. SPELL REEL opens April 12 in the cinemas. We will be previewing it at Arsenal on April 10th in the presence of the director and other guests. We will present other film materials and there will also be a Q&A. There will be further screenings at Neukölln’s Wolf Kino on 11.4 and on 13.4 in Wedding’s Archive Kabinett where the book “Luta ca caba inda. Time Place Matter Voice. 1967–2017” will also be presented.
