Le Brésil, autrefois plus grande colonie d’esclaves au monde, était brutal et mortel pour des millions d’Africains. Mais plusieurs milliers s’échappèrent et se rebellèrent, créant leurs propres communautés dans l’hinterland sauvage du Brésil. Largement inconnues pour le reste du monde, ces communautés, connues sous le nom de quilombos, se battent aujourd’hui pour préserver un riche héritage né de la résistance à l’oppression.

Quilombo (« Quilombo » est un mot angolais qui signifie « campement », « cantonnement ») fournit le contexte historique dans lequel ces communautés se sont développées aussi bien avec de nombreux exemples culturels, des discussions sur la race, la terre et les droits humains, plus d’exceptionnelles images de festivals et cérémonies. De tous les récents films sur l’expérience afrobrésilienne, Quilombo traduit le mieux la vie traditionnelle des descendants des Afro Brésiliens, grâce à un portrait très documenté.

La narration de Quilombo Country est assurée en anglais par Chuck D, le poète légendaire, chroniqueur radio et leader du groupe de rap Public Enemy.
« Persuasif, complexe, et qui arrive au bon moment. »
– Southern Quarterly


« Des images exceptionnelles de festivals et cérémonies »
– In These Times


« Winner, Best Documentary, 2007 »
– Black International Cinema Berlin




« Quilombo Country » to Screen in South Africa Township

« Quilombo Country » will return to Africa after screening at festivals in Zanzibar, Durban and Lagos. The Aluta Film Festival, « South Africa’s premier township cinema event, » runs Monday, February 25th to Sunday March 2nd, 2008 in the bustling township of Galeshewe, just outside Kimberley.

Brazil, once the world’s largest slave colony, was brutal and deadly for millions of Africans. But many thousands escaped and rebelled, creating their own communities in Brazil’s untamed hinterland. Largely unknown to the outside world, these communities, known as quilombos, struggle today to preserve a rich heritage born of resistance to oppression.

Quilombo (« Quilombo » is an Angolan word meaning « encampment ») provides the historical context in which these communities developed, as well as numerous examples of material culture, discussions of race, land and human rights, plus rare footage of festivals and ceremonies. Of all the recent films about the Afrobrazilian experience, « Quilombo Country » stands out in its informed portrayal of traditional life among Afro-descended Brazilians.

Quilombo is narrated by Chuck D, the legendary poet, media commentator and front man of the hip hop band Public Enemy.


« Persuasive, complex, and timely. »
– Southern Quarterly


« Outstanding footage of festivals and ceremonies »
– In These Times


« Winner, Best Documentary, 2007 »
– Black International Cinema Berlin


Credits
Directed, produced and photographed by Leonard Abrams
Assistant Director: Shirli Michalevicz
Assistant Producer: Eduarda Ribeiro
Narrator: Chuck D


2008. « Quilombo Country, » the award-winning film about Brazilian villages founded by escaped and rebel slaves, will hold its World Theatrical Premiere on Saturday, the 23rd of February [Black History Month] at 8pm at the Anthology Film Archives, 32 2nd Ave. (2nd St.) in New York City, followed by a Q&A with director Leonard Abrams.


Festivals
« Quilombo Country » has/will appear in:

Black Cinema Berlin [Winner: Best Documentary]; Cine Las Americas Film Festival, Austin, TX; Document 5 International Human Rights Film Festival, Glasgow; Durban International Film Festival; E. Desmond Lee Africa World Festival, St. Louis, MO & Lagos, Nigeria; Human Rights Nights Film Festival, Bologna; Independent Black Film Festival, Atlanta; New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival; Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles; Rio International Ethnographic Film Festival; San Francisco Black Film Festival; Vancouver Pan African Film Festival; and the Zanzibar International Film Festival.

About the Director
Leonard Abrams is a writer for print as well as a filmmaker, and an editor of both. He published and edited the East Village Eye magazine from 1979 to 1987, created the multiracial hip hop club Hotel Amazon in 1988, and since then was Music Editor of Details magazine [NY] and US Editor of Soul Underground [London] and Masthead literary magazine [Melbourne]. He began traveling in Brazil in the early 1990s and started this, his first major filmmaking effort, in 2001. His transition to motion picture media comes from a desire « to tell stories in a more direct fashion, more like the original storytellers did. »

Filmography
This is the director’s first film.