Celebrating the centenary of Frantz Fanon’s birth, which we had already marked with the conversation ‘Sair da Grande Noite’ (Leaving the Long Night) in July last year, the IHC now proposes a film cycle focusing on the relationship between his work and this art form.

Organised by Manuela Ribeiro Sanches, Miguel Ribeiro, and Sofia Victorino, the cycle offers a reflection on Fanon’s multiple legacies, ‘from the anti-racist struggle to the decolonisation movements, as well as his work as a psychiatrist – closely intertwined with the other two aspects’. As the team explains, already in Black Skin, White Masks (1952), ‘cinema occupies a marginal but no less decisive space with regard to issues of representation, having a central place in the alternative therapies that Fanon would introduce at the Blida-Joinville Psychiatric Hospital in Algeria, as Chief Medical Officer between 1953 and 1956.’

In this way, it is possible to address Fanon’s historical context, his relationship with liberation movements, with the causes of the so-called “Third World” and with the struggle for the rights of racialised groups. All these issues resonate today, both ‘in social movements that demand effective equal citizenship’ and in ‘the discussion about the urgency of decolonising knowledge and institutions’.

The screening sessions will take place at Casa do Comum, in Bairro Alto, with the exception of the last one, on 14 February, which will take place at the Fernando Lopes Movie Theatre (Lusófona University of Lisbon). They always start at 4 pm. After each session, there will be a debate with guests related to the topics of the films. The full schedule can be found at this link.