The Language, (2002), a documentary directed by a Brazilian named Victor Lopes, was a fitting opening for the first Portuguese film festival in Botswana.
The Language is about the Portuguese language and was shot in six countries, Portugal, Mozambique, India, Brazil, France and Japan, documenting the lives of people who speak the language.
A Portuguese writer and another from Brazil discuss the idea that the Portuguese language is changing. Both writers do not hold any snobbish views that the language must be preserved; one states that he is only a user of the language.
The rest of the cast are people who are just going about their normal lives. There is a Brazilian street vendor, who hawks candy by day and preaches the gospel by night in the buses that commute around Rio; there is a young Mozambican, who aspires to be a rapper; a soldier who detonates landmines in Mozambique; a Japanese man who grew up in Brazil and a Chinese couple who lived in Portugal.
The Portuguese Film Festival opened on Thursday at the National Museum, and will screen 17 movies in the Little Theatre auditorium. Sandra Pires, of the Camoes Institute of Portugal, an organisation that promotes the Portuguese language, announced the launch that, while the movies are screened, there will also be an exhibition at the Kgotla area of the Museum, of poetry and poets’ biographies from Portuguese speaking countries.
There will also be an exhibition of the participating countries: Angola, Brazil, Mozambique and Portugal.
She highlighted The Hero, as Angola’s emblematic movie. City of God as Brazil’s, The Tree of our Fore Fathers as Mozambique’s and Fleurette as Portugal’s.
In The Hero, (2002), directed by Zeze Gamboa, Vitorio is recruited in the Angolan army, which he serves for two decades then loses his leg. The Hero won the Grand Prix at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005.
Portugal’s Fleurette, (2002), documents a son’s attempt to uncover his mother’s past to her disapproval.
The Mascom sponsored festival will run till the 17th of July
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DATE TIME NAME
Sunday 14.00 The Two Sons of Francisco (Brazil)
Sunday 17.00 The Hero (Angola)
Sunday 19.30 Fleurette (Portugal)
Monday 18.00 Foreign Land (Brazil)
Tuesday 18.00 The Great Bazar (Mozambique)
Wed. 18.00 Evil (Portugal)
Thur. 18.00 Night Lodgers (Mozambique)