May 30th 1967. Colonel Odemegwu Ojukwu unilaterally declares the independence of the state of Biafra from the Nigeria. The Nigerian federal government ruled by Yakubu Gowon leads a military offensive over Biafra to recover the region. Hostilities open way for large-scale war and the first post-colonial conflict in African soil. Saint Tome, at the time a Portuguese colony, is close to Biafra by air. Its geographic position permitted the establishment of an airlift which saved of hundreds of thousands of children from starvation. Fifty Yeats later, a phantom in San Tome wonders amidst what remains from this event considered the first civilian aid mechanism in the 20th century.

In the middle of the Atlantic, off the equatorial western African coast lies Sao Tomé, a small archipelago discovered by Portuguese sailors. Originally unpopulated, the colony grew as a major slave trade platform between Sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas, while also growing as a main cocoa and coffee producer through plantations structures imported from Brazil called Roças. In 1876, slavery is abolished all over the Portuguese empire while labour at the plantations is replaced by a paid forced labour system that would last until the collapse of Portuguese colonial rule in 1974. Populated over the centuries by slaves and labourers from other Portuguese African colonies - Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde – San Tomeans inherited poverty and alienation, finding belonging solely in the legends of their ancestors.
Song of Ossobó, the lamentation chant of the unrooted bird, is one of them. The film features today’s life in Roças Rio do Ouro and Água-Izé, which were among the largest cocoa plantations in São Tomé and Príncipe, combined with archive footage commissioned by the Salazar regime and personal family videos shot by the director’s father in visits to Sao Tome after immigrating to Portugal in the 70’s.

EM DESENVOLVIMENTO

Político Thriller Drama Series – 10 Episodios 60’

No seguimento de ataque Europeu a um barco patrulha Turco na República Chipre Norte combinado secretamente entre altos oficiais da União Europeia apoiados por um magnata Russo dono de um império de gás natural, a actual Comissão mostra-se frágil estando sob pressão de vários grupos populistas bem sucedidos na Europa pós-Brexit. Enquanto que os burocratas do costume estabelecem comités e notas de protesto, uma improvável grupo de funcionários menores, liderados por uma comissária audaz e coerente com o seu mandato, colocam em risco as suas vidas enfrentando a teia de corrupção interna associada aos lobbies da energia.