Berlin Premiere: „Por Aqui Tudo Bem“ (All is well, 2011) with Director Pocas Pascoal in Attendance, Sunday, 19 January 2014, 17h30, Hackesche Höfe Kino

With director Pocas Pascoal in attendance, AfricAvenir International invites you to the Berlin Premiere of the awards winning feature film „Por aqui Tudo Bem" (All is Well, 2011, Portugese with German Subtitles) on Sunday, 19 January 2014 at 17h30 at Hackesche Höfe Kino. In the late summer of 1980, Alda and her sister Maria, at the age of 16 and 17, arrive in Lisbon to escape the civil war in Angola. Left to themselves, they must learn to survive in a foreign city. Alda and Maria, from scratch will build a new life and become women. When problems nearly become unbearable, dreadful news fall upon them. Paradoxically, it is this terrifying news that give them the strength to decide their own fate. In her much acclaimed debut, director Pascoal works up her own personal story of escape and exile and at the same time tells the story of a whole generation of Angolan refugees.

Following the screening there will be an audience talk with director Pocas Pascoal as well as a small reception in the foyer of the cinema.

With the financial support of BMZ, Brot für die Welt – Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst, Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation and in cooperation with Africiné, Allacine, SEV Magazin, dem Club der Freunde von RFI, Berlin Poche, |+| rendez-vous-cine.de, Exberliner, multicult.fm, Art Labour Archives, Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD), Cinema Negro, Berlinda, Humboldt Universität, Zentrum Moderner Orient und Planète Métis.n

Background Information
ALL IS WELL is the first feature film directed by Pocas Pascoal. Intimate and semi autobiographical, the film relives a very specific moment in Portuguese History: the years that followed Angola’s independence. The independence of former colonies in 1975 marked a new wave of African immigration that continues to this day.nIn the late 70’s, this African migration dramatically increased with the beginning of Angola’s Civil War and thousands of Angolans arrived in Lisbon in highly precarious conditions. How did Lisbon cope with this demographic explosion? How did these new communities secure their survival? And what about their integration?

In the early 80’s, thousands of young people lived in a sort of no man’s land, between a past that they could no longer return to and a future that didn’t seem to exist. And it is precisely at that time of great uncertainty, when only survival seems to matter, that we find the characters in this film. But they represent one of the less visible sides of that community that hugely increased with the years, and that participated and contributed to the great revolution of customs that Portugal lived in the early 80’s.

Director’s Note
With the beginning of the war in Angola, thousands of refugees escaped the country, leaving their lives and families behind. As an adolescent girl, I was part of that surge. With just a bit of money in our pockets, my mother sent my sister and me in an airplane to Lisbon. With Angola at war, Lisbon appeared to us as a promise of freedom.

We arrived with our hearts filled with hope. But as my mother prepared to join us, the government forbade Angolans to leave the country. At only 16 years of age, my sister and I were suddenly alone and helpless in Lisbon. In this film I am humbly inspired by my own story and by that of those who I encountered. Just like my sister and I, Alda and Maria, the two heroines in the film, face their difficulties with certain ingenuity and manage to remain united and positive against all odds. Their innocence that is so characteristic to their age will allow them to survive and at the same time become women.

In this story it is my intent to portray a young generation fractured by war, parted from its origins and in danger of losing its identity due to exile.

Press Reviews
“All is Well, a Lisbon-set exploration of the immigrant experience and, especially, of the bond between siblings, is a work of striking visual eloquence and emotional honesty. As sisters navigating a new country, together and separately, Cheila Lima and Ciomara Morais deliver performances of searing intimacy. Filmmaker Pocas Pascoal has transformed her personal story of exile from Angola into a deeply affecting drama, whose cinematic power if particularly impressive in the work of a first-time feature director.” Jury, Los Angeles Film Festival

"Por aqui tudo bem by Pocas Pascoal is a film which tells us what happened to an entire generation of Angolans. This includes the director of this movie and her sister. For many years young Angolans were sent to Portugal by their parents to escape the war that was devasting their country." AfricaNews

About the Filmmaker
Angolan Pocas Pascoal studied at the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français and in 2002 was part of a group of artists at the Cité Internationale des Arts, taking part in several exhibitions of contemporary art. In 2003, she directed the documentary Il y a toujours quelqu’un qui t’aime | There is always someone who loves you, which was awarded a prize by the Société Civile des Auteurs Multimedia and was selected for several festivals. Por aqui tudo bem is her first feature film.

Awardsn

• Best Narrative Feature – Los Angeles FF
• TAP Award for Best Portuguese Fiction Feature Film – IndieLisboa
• Best Actress – Carthage FF
• FESPACO: European Union Award

nBerlin Premiere
R: Pocas Pascoal, Portugal 2011, 94 min, Portugese with German Subtitles
With Cheila Lima, Ciomara Morais, Vera Cruz, Willion Brandão

Sunday, 19 January 2014
17h30
Entrance: 7,50 €

Tickets und Information
030/ 283 4603

Hackesche Höfe Kino
Rosenthalerstr. 40/41
10187 Berlin
S Hackescher Markt
U Weinmeisterstraße

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