Flora Gomes

On [31?] December 1949, Bissau-Guinean film director Flora Gomes was born in Cadique. Gomes's 'Mortu Nega' (Death Denied) (1988) was the first fiction film and the second feature film ever made in Guinea-Bissau. At FESPACO 1989, the film won the prestigious Oumarou Ganda Prize.

Gomes left Guinea-Bissau to study cinema in Cuba (1972) at the Cuban Institute of Art and Cinematography, under the guidance of Santiago Álvarez. He continued his studies in Senegal, at the Senegalese Journal for Motion Picture News, under the direction of Paulin Soumanou Vieyra. Upon returning to liberated Guinea-Bissau, Gomes filmed his country's independence ceremony (24 September 1974), fulfilling the desire of Amílcar Cabral that it should be Bissau-Guineans themselves capturing this historical moment on film. At the end of the 1970s, he worked as a photographer and cameraman for the Ministry of Information.

Having first directed historical documentaries, Gomes filmed his first feature film, Mortu Nega, in 1987. Mortu Nega depicts the struggle for independence and the challenges of the first post-independence years in Guinea-Bissau. The film was screened at several international film festivals and Gomes caught the attention of commentators and critics. He was particularly well received in France, which in later years enabled him to attract funding for the production of new films. In 2000, he was distinguished in France with the title of 'Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres'.

(Source: Wikpedia)

Selected publications

Works by Flora Gomes

O cineasta visionário / Flora Gomes. - [Guinea Bissau] : Corubal, [2015?]

Films

As duas faces da guerra = The two sides of war /  Diana Andringa; Flora Gomes. - Lisboa : Lx Filmes, cop. 2007

Nha Fala : ma voix, mon destin, ma vie, mon chemin / Flora Gomes. - Paris : La Médiathèque des trois mondes, 2002

"A máscara" / Flora Gomes. - [S.l.] : Centro Cultural Franc-Guineense, 1995

Udju azul di Yonta = De blauwe ogen van Yonta / Flora Gomes. - [S.l. : s.n.], 1992

Mortu Nega = Those whom death refused / Flora Gomes. - San Francisco, CA : California Newsreel, 1988

Publications about Flora Gomes

Postcolonial African cinema : ten directors / David Murphy; Patrick Williams. - Manchester [etc.] : Manchester University Press [etc.], cop. 2007

Flora Gomes, filmmaker in search of a nation / Akinwumi Adesokan.
In: Black camera : the newsletter of the Black Film Center/Archives, 2011, Vol.3 (1), p.31-53

In Guinea-Bissau, cinema trickles down: an interview with Flora Gomes / Frank N. Ukadike.
In: Research in African literatures, 1995, Vol.26 (3), p.179-185

Entrevista com Flora Gomes, 2011 - Cineasta Africano