O Canto do Ossobó (2017)
The Song of Ossobó
N/C
98 min
Realização: · Silas Tiny
[“Rio do Ouro and Água-Izé were among the largest cocoa plantations in São Tomé and Príncipe during the Portuguese colonial era. Thousands were marked by forced labour equivalent to slavery. I return to my country to find the traces of that past.”
[Silas Tiny]
In the middle of the Atlantic, off the equatorial western African coast lies Sao Tomé, a small archipelago discovered by Portuguese sailors. Originally unpopulated, the colony grew as a major slave trade platform between Sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas, while also growing as a main cocoa and coffee producer through plantations structures imported from Brazil called Roças. In 1876, slavery is abolished all over the Portuguese empire while labour at the plantations is replaced by a paid forced labour system that would last until the collapse of Portuguese colonial rule in 1974. Populated over the centuries by slaves and labourers from other Portuguese African colonies – Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde – San Tomeans inherited poverty and alienation, finding belonging in the legends of their ancestors. Song of Ossobó, the lamentation chant of the unrooted bird, is one of them. The film features today’s life in Roças Rio do Ouro and Água-Izé, which were among the largest cocoa plantations in São Tomé and Príncipe, combined with archive footage commissioned by the Sregime and personal family videos shot by the director’s father in visits to Sao Tome after immigrating to Portugal.]
Mais informações: Website externo
- [Trailer]
Direcção Musical: · Sete Lágrimas
Produção: · Divina Comédia
Produtor: · Rui Alexandre Santos
Realização: · Silas Tiny
- Portugal (PT)
- São Tomé e Príncipe (ST)
- 2017-10-23 | São Jorge | Apresentação
- 2018-04-19 | Portugal | Estreia
[Silas Tiny]
Rio do Ouro e Água-Izé foram das maiores roças de produção de cacau em São Tomé e Príncipe durante o período colonial português. A sua produção chegou a ser a maior a nível mundial em princípios do Século XX. Neste local milhares de homens e mulheres foram marcados pelo trabalho forçado em regime equiparado à escravatura. A Roça lembra o poder e domínio, injustiça e dor. Hoje, a degradação alastra pelo espaço colocando em risco de extinção a memória coletiva santomense. Passados trinta anos de ausência, regresso ao meu país para encontrar os vestígios desse passado.
[Fonte: Divina Comédia]