Flora Gomes

Flora GOMES (1949, Guinea Bissau) is an important figure of post-colonial African cinema. He attended in 1972 a film course with Santiago Alvarez at the Instituto Cubano das Artes. Since 1973 he has made news reports, e.g. for Swedish television. In 1976 he made with Sana N'hada the short documentary O regresso de Cabral. After making two more films with others, he made his 'solo' debut in 1987 with Mortu negra, which was given two special mentions by the jury at the Venice Film Festival. In 2005, Gomes was recognized by the University of Lisbon, receiving a medal celebrating the universality of his work. In the same year, Gomes was the president of the ECOWAS jury at the Pan-African Film and Television Festival. Gomes' films often deal with history, memory and modern cultural identity in post-independence Guinea-Bissau.

Filmography

O regresso de Cabral (1976, short doc), A reconstruçao (1977, doc, co-dir), Anôs no oça luta (1978, short doc, co-dir), Mortu negra (1987, doc), Udju azul di Yonta/The Blue Eyes of Yonta (1992), Po di sangui/Tree of Blood (1996), Nha fala/My Voice (2002), As duas faces da guerra (2007, doc, co-dir), The Children's Republic (2012)