'Lolo & Sosaku' The Western Archive
Sound artists Lolo & Sosaku become modern cowboys rummaging for sounds in the desert’s vastness.
66'
Spain
IFFR 2024
Are even the best and brightest revolutionary movements doomed to inevitable compromise, betrayal and failure? That question haunts this documentary, a biography of Angolan-born Mário Pinto de Andrade (1928–1990), a key figure in African revolutionary and anti-colonial struggles.
Told in a direct, informative style, combining present-day interviews, still photography and archival footage, Mário eschews excessive dramatisation and sentimentality. Legendary American filmmaker Billy Woodberry, a key figure in the L.A. Rebellion film movement of the 1970s and 1980s, brings a pan-African sensibility to the subject, matching de Andrade’s own. Mário returns us to a time when revolution was imagined internationally, not held hostage to nationalist ideologies.
Beyond the rich history it recounts, Mário is notable as an interwoven portrait of other central players of the time, including Agostinho Neto, Amílcar Cabral and Mário’s brother, Joaquim, a Catholic priest. There are also interludes with fabled, politically committed filmmakers, like Andrade’s wife Sarah Maldoror (Sambizanga, 1972, IFFR 2022) and Chris Marker. Don’t miss the final moment when Andrade, asked about the fate of revolutions, brilliantly proposes his theory, and flashes a smile so radiant it’s telling.
– Adrian Martin
Did you know that Billy Woodberry will be joining us for a Talk this year? Find out more here.
IFFR 2024
Programme IFFR 2024
Echoing Rotterdam’s port city identity, Harbour offers a safe haven to the full range of contemporary cinema that the festival champions.
Read more about this programmeSound artists Lolo & Sosaku become modern cowboys rummaging for sounds in the desert’s vastness.
66'
Spain
IFFR 2024
A candid grassroots record of the non-violent protests against India’s controversial farm laws.
151'
India
IFFR 2024
Kung Fu masters, slingshot gangs and French mercenaries battle it out in a vigorous actioner.
108'
China
IFFR 2024