- The first cultural act of Mozambique's government right after independence, in 1975, was creating the National Institute of Cinema [NIC]. The new President, Samora Machel, had a strong conscience of the cinematic potential while creating an image for a new socialist nation. All over the country, cinema road units were screening NIC's most popular production, a newsreel untitled Kuxa Kanema, which means The Birth of Cinema. People's Republic of Mozambique became the Republic of Mozambique and NIC, once a great enterprise, was reduced to abandoned rooms and corridors, where the staff stood patiently waiting for retirement. The building was destroyed by a fire back in 1991, and the visual documents that witness the first eleven years of independence - the years of the socialist revolution - were rotting in an out-building, and about to be forgotten. From these and other living testimonies, we will recover the path of a nation's ideal, which has fallen apart, day by day, together with "one cinema for the people", and with the dreams from those who believed that Mozambique could one day become a different country.
- After 500 years of Portuguese colonialism and over 10 other of fight for freedom, Mozambique was one of the last African countries to become independent. It is FRELIMO, Mozambique Liberation Front, that has formed the first government and its leader, Samora Machel, was the President of the new People's Republic of Mozambique. Samora Machel had a strong personality and a strong conscience of the power of image. He was the one to encourage the immediate creation of the National Institute of Cinema (NIC), which goal was to use cinema as an instrument to destroy every remain of colonialism and to educate, mobilize and organize people. Theatres were nationalized, the means of production as well, and the experts were coming from private companies, which were nationalized too. The economical agreements with eastern natural allied countries allowed the purchase of new material and film. The USSR offered several vehicles that enabled road teams to screen films over the country. The most popular among all was KUXA KANEMA, a 10 minute newsreel, which frequently showed images and speeches of Samora Machel, who held the population by his power of expression. The success of KUXA KANEMA was such that the designation is still used nowadays to refer to any image in motion. During the socialist revolution, NIC produced essentially educational and, or military documentaries. Cinema was suppose to deliver a message of national unity and to help promoting big projects for the country: communal villages, people assemblies and, generally speaking, the building of one society worth of the "new man". But soon Mozambique was facing aggressions from Rhodesia, which was very unhappy with Samora Machel's support to liberation movements. Also South Africa accused Mozambique of protecting ANC (African National Congress - South Africa's Liberation Movement) and started to promote a civil war that end up destroying the country during 16 years. Despite the war, which grew intensively each day, Mozambique's project of a country and NIC's film projects would bring several co-operate technicians and foreign film directors. A big effort from these strongly interested helpers, mostly from the Eastern Countries, Cuba, Canada, Brazil and England, was made to give technical formation to new people. One who brought great success to NIC, specially on an international level, was Ruy Guerra. Born in Mozambique and a long time ago radiated in Brazil - kind of a mythical character, the father of Brazilian New Cinema - Ruy Guerra, was invited and returned to Mozambique to be part of this Birth of the Cinema. In the late 70's Jean-Luc Godard and his company - Sonimage - suggested Mozambique the using of a new and much cheaper support: video. Godard's idea was to direct 5 films called "Nassaince (de l'Image) d'une Nation" and also, at the same time, to study the possible creation of the new television of Mozambique. This was a country where 95% of population had never seen a picture and, from Godard's point of view, it was the ideal set for creating a TV channel. Godard writes on his report: "One only image", "the people", "the image of that people". But the questions that Godard wanted to raise were not so appropriate in the framework of that political moment, and his project was refused by the government. With the growing violence as the civil war was spreading, NIC was fighting against all technical sort of problems: lack of energy, lack of film, lack of technical support, among others. Even though, in 1983, NIC embraces a project of fiction films. Only two films would be produced: "The Time of the Leopards", a co-production with Yugoslavia, an epic about the glorious acts of FRELIMO during colonial time, and "The Wind Blows from North", totally produced in Mozambique. Both quite manichean, with simple stories of black and white men, both were great commercial successes. In 1986, Mozambique was considered the world's poorest country. Town theatres were destroyed and road-cinema could no longer be, as it was not safe to leave any city. When Samora Machel died, in October 1986, the country felt it would be very hard to recover, as he embodied the ideal of freedom, and with him several things died. One of them was cinema. The new government was not so interested on keeping NIC and television, already broadcasting in Maputo, would finally replace it. NIC ceases its production and in 1991 the Institute's building was practically destroyed by a great fire. Only film storage and the administration department survived. Until then, around 120 films had been produced, between short, medium and feature films, as well as and 350 editions of KUXA KANEMA. Mozambique is today a country like many, where several TV channels show brazilian soap-operas, american talk-shows and dubious films from different countries. The visual documents portraying important years from their past, are half abandoned and will slowly rotten in NIC's small archive warehouse. People seem to have for long forgotten their past and do not pose many questions concerning the future.
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