Margot (2022)

Margot, 2022 — Catarina Alves Costa, France/Italy (72′)

This documentary centres on the work of German ethnomusicologist Margot Dias (1908–2001), carried out in the Mueda region of Mozambique between 1958 and 1961 for the Mission for the Study of Ethnic Minorities in Portuguese Overseas Territories.

Margot Dias and Jorge Dias carried out various ethnographic missions in Africa during the colonial occupation, confronting the ethical and political problems inherent in the colonial system, which consequently affected their fieldwork and the anthropologists’ relationship with the Maconde community, especially after the Mueda Massacre.

The written, photographic, sound and videographic records of the rites of passage and the cultural and musical practices of the Maconde, collected by Margot, are revisited by the director who travels to Mozambique to share them with the community, in a gesture of restitution of memory. Catarina Alves Costa walks in Margot’s footsteps, hoping to meet up with people who knew her, in order to collect memories about the fearless researcher.

Thus, this film takes us on a journey through time, revisiting ways of life that coexisted with the colonial past, to arrive at the present day, made up of the same places as before, but with new actors and customs on stage, safeguarding the archive and the memory shared between two peoples.

* Session with director Catarina Alves Costa

Lucky Star — Cineclube de Braga
Lúcio Craveiro da Silva Library
R. de São Paulo 1, 4700-042 Braga

Tickets:

General public: €3
Cineclube members: Free entry
Students and BLCS users: €1

More information at facebook.com/cinebraga