Cinémathèque Afrique
The concept of the 36th Bienal de São Paulo proposes thinking about and perceiving the world from the point of view and prism of Brazil—its histories, landscapes, philosophies, mythologies, and complexities. Brazil, as both a fictional and symbolic construction, emerges as a confluence of many worlds and their tangents. The physical and philosophical space of the estuary is adopted as a metaphor for this edition of the Bienal, evoking a cultural condition shaped by encounters, negotiations, and exchanges among diverse zones of influence. These processes have given rise to techniques and themes that transcend notions of ethnicity and nationality.
In the context of the Saison France–Brésil 2025 and in collaboration with the Cinémathèque Afrique, Stream of Images / Imaginaries [Fluxo de imagens / Imaginários] focuses on the shared history among Brazil, the Caribbean, and Africa, and on how this transcontinental sphere of mutual influence continues to resonate in the cultural practices and imaginaries of the communities of these regions today. A selection committee of six specialists in moving-image practices from Brazil, the Caribbean, and the northern and western regions of Africa—each with expertise in areas such as Pan-African narratives, archival cinema, or queer voices—collectively developed a film program that places contemporary and historical works in dialogue. Structured into four chapters—Territory and Sovereignty, What Remains of Us, Bodies in Movement: Sound, Struggle, and Social Space, and Once Upon a Time in the Future—the program highlights the relationship between people and territory, explores how fragments of histories and memories persist across generations and manifest in gestures and daily rituals, and shows how the body becomes both language and battlefield.
The four thematic programs will be presented in the Pavilhão auditorium on alternating Sundays, and once a month one of the screenings will be followed by a roundtable with members of the selection committee and some of the filmmakers. In parallel with the presentation at the Bienal de São Paulo, and within the framework of the Saison France–Brésil 2025, the program will also be shown at La Friche la Belle de Mai (Marseille), later traveling to various locations in Africa and the Caribbean. In these places, it will be presented in expanded form, with conversations involving participating artists and representatives of the selection committee.
Selection Committee: Aude Christel Mgba, Débora Butruce, Elisabeth Gustave, Heitor Augusto, Jihan El-Tahri, and June Givanni.
Stream of Images / Imaginaries is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Instituto Guimarães Rosa, the French Embassy in Brazil, and the Institut français, as part of the Saison France–Brésil.
Territory and Sovereignty
Looking at different communities in Senegal, Brazil, France, Guadeloupe, and Mozambique, this section highlights the relationship between populations and territories, exposing the role of colonialism and capitalism in depriving people of the right to live with dignity and to exercise autonomy over the land:
Contras’ City [Cidade dos Contrastes] (22’, Djibril Diop Mambety, 1969)
Estamos todos aqui (20’, Chica Andrade and Rafael Mellim, 2017)
Les Princes noirs de Saint-Germain-des-Prés [The Black Princes of Saint-Germain-des-Prés] (14’, Ben Diogaye Beye, 1975)
Listen to the Beat of Our Images [Escute a pulsação de nossas imagens] (11’, Audrey Jean-Baptiste and Maxime Jean-Baptiste, 2021)
Plantar nas estrelas (11’, Geraldo Sarno, Brazil/Mozambique, 1979)
What Remains of Us
Investigates how marginalized communities reinvent and transform themselves over time, creating gestures and daily rituals from fragments of history. More than speaking of loss, these films celebrate voices and practices that resist erasure, embodying reinvention, empathy, and persistence in the face of structural violence.
Ici s’achève le monde connu [Here Ends the Known World] (16’, Anne-Sophie Nanki, 2022)
Geruzinho (15’, Juliana Teixeira, Luli Morante, Rafael Amorim, 2022)
Les Escuelles (11’, Idrissa Ouedraogo, 1983)
A Lesson in History (5’, Maybelle Peters, 1990)
Leave the Edges (40’, Baff Akoto, Ghana/UK, 2020)
Bodies in Movement: Sound, Struggle, and Social Space
Brings together films in which the body becomes simultaneously language and battlefield, carrying histories, navigating constraints, and reclaiming space through dance, labor, protest, and ritual. Here, sound is inhabited and space is shaped by movement.
Nossa escola de samba (30’, Manuel Gimenez, 1965)
Ughniyat Touha al-Hazina [Touha’s Sad Song] (12’, Atteyat Al-Abnoudy, 1973)
Lamb: La Lutte (15’, Paulin Vieyra, 1963)
Recife de dentro pra fora (17’, Katia Mesel, 1997)
Once Upon a Time in the Future
Presents works from Guadeloupe, Martinique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Brazil, and the United Kingdom, exploring the future through a weaving together of sound, vision, and philosophy. These films imagine and claim futures in the face of necropolitics and the ruptures of modernity.
Fouyé Zétwal [Plowing the Stars] (14’, Wally Fall and Anyès Noèl, 2020)
Kaka Yo (28’, Luc Siassia and Sébastien Kamba, 1965)
Kila & Mauna (19’, Ella Monstra, 2023)
The Last Angel of History (45’, John Akomfrah, 1996)
In São Paulo
At the Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo, the program will run throughout the entire period of the 36th Bienal de São Paulo, with screenings every weekend, each dedicated to a different section. The opening takes place on September 8, from 2:30 pm to 5 pm, at the Bienal Auditorium, with the screening of the Territory and Sovereignty films, followed by a discussion panel with Débora Butruce, Heitor Augusto, Anna Roberta Goetz, and Thomas Sparfel.
In Marseille
On September 19 and 20, the program takes over the Petit Plateau at La Friche la Belle de Mai.
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September 19, 6 pm – 7:20 pm: screening of the Territory and Sovereignty films, followed by a panel with Chica Andrade & Rafael Mellim, Heitor Augusto, and Wasis Diop.
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September 20, 6 pm – 7:20 pm: screening of the Bodies in Movement films, followed by a panel with Katia Mesel and Débora Butruce. The closing will feature a DJ set by Gombaxx from 9 pm to midnight at Les Grand Tables.
Saison France–Brésil Program: Stream of Images / Imaginaries
Bienal Auditorium
September 8, 2025
2:30 pm – 5 pm: screening of the Territory and Sovereignty films, followed by a panel with Débora Butruce, Heitor Augusto, Anna Roberta Goetz, and Thomas Sparfel.
La Friche la Belle de Mai
September 19, 2025
6 pm – 7:20 pm: film screening
7:30 pm – 8:30 pm: panel with Chica Andrade & Rafael Mellim, Heitor Augusto, and Wasis Diop
September 20, 2025
6 pm – 7:20 pm: film screening
7:30 pm – 8:30 pm: panel with Katia Mesel and Débora Butruce
9 pm – midnight: DJ set with Gombaxx
Jobin Entrance (pedestrian access and ticket office): 41 Rue Jobin, 13003 Marseille
Simon Entrance (pedestrian access and restricted parking): 12 Rue François Simon, 13003 Marseille
free admission
