Ntimbe Caetano | The Mozambique Archive Series  2016

2 channel video installation, HD Video 29,' Archive materials

Ntimbe Caetano is an audio-visual installation of two simultaneous screenings and a selection of archival documentary material continuing Simão ́s ongoing research into the political history and archives of The Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO), the dominant political party in Mozambique.

In Makonde language “Ntimbe Caetano” means “Let’s crush Caetano”: a slogan calling for commitment to war against the enemy, Marcelo Caetano, last Prime Minister of the “Estado Novo” (Second Republic) a corporatist, authoritarian regime in Portugal following the 36-year long prime ministry of António de Oliveira Salazar. The protagonist of Ntimbe Caetano is the wood sculptor Ntaluma who was born in a Frelimo Base during the Liberation Struggle, in Cabo Delgado Province. Filmed while working on a piece in his workshop, he reenacts early memories of terror during popular trials in the Liberated Zones (countryside territories with native rural population controlled by Frelimo guerrillas) that were used as disciplinary measure even long years after Independence achieved in 1975. The second video, Effects of Wording, documents the circumstances of origin and the daily life of an educational project called “The Mozambique Institute”. The story is based on the composition of material from an extensive collection of correspondence, newspaper cuttings, photos, textbooks, lm shots, and other archive materials from a number of sources. The narrative involves various parties such as Frelimo, Eduardo Mondlane, the Portuguese Foreign Affairs Minister, Alberto Franco Nogueira, and The Ford Foundation. “Archive images always hold the promise to retain any historical truth, but this promise comes often coupled with a potential disloyalty when a simple transposition of context, of translation, or will betray it without too much effort.” (Catarina Simão) 

Credits
NTIMBE CAETANO | THE MOZAMBIQUE ARCHIVE SERIES 2016

Filmed and edited by Catarina Simão

Participants: Ntaluma, B. Romão, Tour-guide at Museu de Mueda, Nyau de Cuchamano group
Sound: João Bento
Color grading: Fernanda Gurgel
Text excerpts taken from: Theories des modernen Dramas Suhrkamp, 1956 by Peter Szondi
Wood sculture executed by Ntaluma: O Povo abandonado do Planalto

Special thanks for additional images made by: Chico Carneiro, Fernanda Gurgel

Funding for this video was generously provided by Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art, Oldenburg

Installation room at Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art

Trailer for Ntimbe Caetano (2016)