Dr. Maja Figge
Luta ca caba inda (2011-ongoing): film archivism as decolonial practice
Abstract
Luta ca caba inda (the struggle is not over yet) was a project around the militant film archive of Guinea-Bissau initiated in 2011 by filmmakers Filipa César, Flora Gomes, Sana Na N’Hada and others. In face of the imminent loss of the archive the question of the promise of militant cinema born from the Guinean liberation struggle arose and initiated not only the digitization of the film and audio material – without restoring it – in Berlin in 2012, but also a collective research and (re-)activation process, which found many outputs in public screenings, discursive events, books, and films, such as Spell Reel (2017, Filipa César), which not only documents the work with the militant film archive but also theorizes it. Against the backdrop of the current debate on African Film Heritage I will discuss some of the concepts crucial to the project, such as relation, assemblage, and meteorization along the film, so Luta ca caba inda comes into view as decolonial practice.