Stream of Images / Imaginaries: 36th Bienal de São Paulo screening program highlights connections between Brazil, the Caribbean, and West Africa
Proposed in the context of the Saison France-Brésil, the program celebrates artistic exchange between Brazil, the Caribbean, and Africa as part of the 36th Bienal de São Paulo.
The Fundação Bienal de São Paulo brings together the richness of Brazilian and French cultures through a program of films and related activities, supported by the Ministry of Foreign Relations / Instituto Guimarães Rosa, the Embassy of France in Brazil and the Institut français as part of the Saison France-Brésil. This institutional partnership highlights the commitment of both nations to fostering cultural dialogue and artistic collaboration, reflecting the broader themes of the 36th Bienal de São Paulo.
Entitled Stream of Images / Imaginaries, the screening program draws on the historical link and the strong transcontinental relationship and mutual influence between Brazil, the French Caribbean and West African countries. It will establish dialogues between contemporary works from the African continent and historical works from the archives of the Cinémathèque Afrique, as well as films and videos by historical and contemporary artists from Brazil and the French Caribbean. The screenings will serve as a focal point, enriched by artist talks, lectures, and performances.
Set to take place across the two countries, the program is developed with the Cinémathèque Afrique as part of the Bienal’s Tributaries program, the public program extending the Bienal’s reach to partner institutions during the 36th Bienal de São Paulo: other than the auditorium of the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion, the screening program will also be presented at La Friche la Belle de Mai in Marseille.
Structured in four thematic blocks, each unfolding into a specific theme that will be explored throughout the Bienal, the program invites audiences to engage deeply with its curatorial propositions:
Territory and Sovereignty
Looking at different communities from Senegal, Brazil, France, Guadeloupe, and Mozambique, this block highlights the relationship between people and territory, exposing the role of colonialism and capitalism in depriving populations of the right to live with dignity and to exercise agency over their land. Includes the following films:
Contras’ City [City of Contrasts] (22’, Djibril Diop Mambety, 1969)
Estamos todos aqui [We Are All Here] (20’, Chica Andrade and Rafael Mellim, 2017)
Les Princes noirs de Saint-Germain-des-Prés [The Black Princes from Saint-Germain-des-Prés] (14’, Ben Diogaye Beye, 1975)
Listen to the Beat of Our Images [Écoutez le battement de nos images] (11’, Audrey Jean-Baptiste and Maxime Jean-Baptiste, 2021)
Plantar nas estrelas [Plant in the Stars] (11’, Geraldo Sarno, Brazil/Mozambique, 1979).
What Remains of Us
Investigates how marginalized communities reinvent and transform themselves through time, creating daily gestures and rituals from remnants of history. Rather than dwelling on loss, these films celebrate voices and practices that resist erasure, embodying reinvention, empathy, and persistence against structural violence. Includes the following films:
Ici s’achève le monde connu [Here Ends the World We’ve Known] (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 Motion: Sound, Struggle, and Social Space
Brings together films in which the body becomes both language and battleground, carrying histories, navigating constraints, and claiming space through dance, labor, protest, and ritual. Here, sound is inhabited, and space is shaped by movement. Includes the following films:
Nossa escola de samba [Our Samba Association] (30’, Manuel Gimenez, 1965)
Ughniyat Touha al-Hazina [Sad Song of Touha] (12’, Atteyat Al-Abnoudy, 1973)
Lamb: La Lutte (15’, Paulin Vieyra, 1963)
Recife de dentro pra fora [Recife Inside Out] (17’, Katia Mesel, 1997)
Once Upon a Time in the Future
Highlights works from Guadeloupe, Martinique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Brazil, and the UK, exploring futurity through a tapestry of sonic, visual, and philosophical inquiry. These films imagine and reclaim futures in the face of necropolitics and the ruptures of modernity. Includes the following films:
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)
The program was structured by an international selection board composed of Aude Mgba, Debora Butruce, Elisabeth Gustave, Heitor Augusto, Jihan El-Tahri and June Givanni, in collaboration with the 36th Bienal’s conceptual team.
In São Paulo
At the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion, the program will extend throughout the duration of the 36th Bienal de São Paulo, with screenings on all weekends of the exhibition period, each time of a different block. In São Paulo, Stream of Images / Imaginaries will be inaugurated on September 8th, from 2:30 to 5pm at the Bienal Pavilion Auditorium, with the screening of the films included in the block Territory and Sovereignty, followed by a panel discussion featuring Débora Butruce, Heitor Augusto, Anna Roberta Goetz, and Thomas Sparfel.
In Marseille
On September 19th and 20th, Stream of Images / Imaginaries will occupy the Petit Plateau of Friche la Belle de Mai. On the 19th, from 6 to 7:20pm, the screening of the films from the block Territory and Sovereignty will take place, followed by a panel with Chica Andrade & Rafael Mellim, Heitor Augusto, and Wasis Diop. On Saturday, September 20th, the films from the block Bodies in Motion: Sound, struggle, and Social Space will be exhibited from 6pm to 7:20pm, followed by a panel with Katia Mesel and Debora Butruce. A DJ set at Les Grand Tables with Gombaxx will conclude the program, from 9pm to midnight.
The Saison Brazil-France 2025 is organized as follows:
For the Brazilian side: by the Instituto Guimarães Rosa, under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, the Brazilian Embassy in France, and the Brazilian Commissariat;
For the French side: by the Institut français, with the support of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, the French Embassy in Brazil, and the French Commissariat.
About the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo
Founded in 1962, the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo is a private, nonprofit institution with no party political or religious ties, whose actions aim to democratize access to culture and foster interest in artistic creation. Every two years, the Fundação holds the Bienal de São Paulo, the largest exhibition of the Southern Hemisphere, and its traveling exhibitions program in several cities in Brazil and abroad. The institution is also the custodian of two items of Latin American artistic and cultural heritage: a historical archive of modern and contemporary art that is a standard reference in Latin America (the Arquivo Histórico Wanda Svevo), and the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion, the head office of the Fundação, designed by Oscar Niemeyer and listed as historical heritage. The Fundação Bienal de São Paulo is also responsible for conceiving and producing Brazil’s representations at the Venice Biennales of art and architecture, a prerogative bestowed upon it decades ago by the Federal Government in recognition of the excellence of its contributions to Brazilian culture.
About Friche la Belle de Mai
Created in 1992, La Friche is both a workspace and a cross-disciplinary venue that brings together artistic creativity, modes of urban transformation, real connections to the region and dynamic cooperation. Every year, 450,000 visitors come to this 45,000 square-meter public space housing five performance spaces, a community garden, a playground and athletic space, a restaurant, bookstore, daycare, some 2,400 square meters of exhibition space, an 8,000 square-meter rooftop, and a training center.
Service
36th Bienal de São Paulo – Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice
Chief curator: Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung / Co-curators: Alya Sebti, Anna Roberta Goetz, Thiago de Paula Souza / Co-curator at large: Keyna Eleison / Strategy and communications advisor: Henriette Gallus
September 6, 2025 – January 11, 2026
Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion
Ibirapuera Park · Gate 3 · São Paulo, SP
free admission
France-Brazil Season Program: Stream of Images / Imaginaries
Bienal Pavilion Auditorium
September 8, 2025
2:30 pm – 5:00 pm: screening of the films from the Territory and Sovereignty block, followed by a panel discussion with Débora Butruce, Heitor Augusto, Anna Roberta Goetz, and Thomas Sparfel.
La Friche la Belle de Mai
September 19, 2025
6pm – 7:20pm, film screening
7:30pm – 8:30pm, panel with Chica Andrade & Rafael Mellim, Heitor Augusto and Wasis Diop
September 20, 2025
6pm – 7:20pm, film screening
7:30pm – 8:30pm, panel with Katia Mesel and Debora Butruce
9pm – midnight, DJ set with Gombaxx
Jobin Entrance (Pedestrian access & ticketing): 41 Rue Jobin, 13003 Marseille
Simon Entrance (Pedestrian access and restricted parking): 12 Rue François Simon, 13003 Marseille
free admission