Mário

Get ready for the revolution! Mário Pinto de Andrade (1928-1990) war treibende Kraft im anti-kolonialistischen Kampf der angolanischen Befreiungsbewegung der 1950er bis 1970er Jahre, war Poet, Mitbegründer und erster Präsident der MPLA. Mit einer an Archivmaterial reich bestückten essayistischen Spurensuche nach einem Menschen, der gezwungen war, überwiegend im Exil zu leben, setzt Regisseur Woodberry sein aktivistisches Filmschaffen fort. Es entsteht ein lebendiges Ciné-Mosaik aus Interviews mit de Andrade und – revolutionären, intellektuellen – Weggefährt:innen, darunter Sarah Maldoror, seine Frau und filmende Mitkämpferin, sowie deren beide Töchter. (Bernd Brehmer) 

In Anwesenheit von Billy Woodberry, Maéva Ranaïvojaona (Produzentin) und Georg Tiller (Produzent).

Combining photographs, archival footage, documents of all sorts, testimonies and songs, MÁRIO weaves a tapestry around Mário Pinto de Andrade, a man whose life was itself a richly layered tapestry. Pinto de Andrade was a multi-faceted figure, moving through several countries in exile or in hiding, working across different literary genres, forging connections to other prominent names—including a close friendship with Amílcar Cabral and marriage to Sarah Maldoror—bouncing between various political activities and organizing colloquiums with Black writers before ultimately serving as the first president of the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola. Yet despite having his fingers in so many pies, the word that his friends most use to define him is integrity. The same can be said of Billy Woodberry’s style. Unlike the early work of his L.A. Rebellion predecessors Charles Burnett and Haile Gerima, which was jagged and fresh, Woodberry’s cinema was mature, well-rounded and tranquil in pace from the very beginning. Here he draws on an impressive amount of research material to create a suitably robust weave, as enduring as the bonds of Pan-African culture that Mário represents. (Victor Guimarães)

In the presence of Billy Woodberry, Maéva Ranaïvojaona (producer) and Georg Tiller (producer).

Billy Woodberry: THE POCKETBOOK (1980, K), BLESS THEIR LITTLE HEARTS (1983), AND WHEN I DIE, I WON’T STAY DEAD (2015), A STORY FROM AFRICA (2019, K)