The route of the Chica Pelega Film Circuit – quilombola edition along the Santa Catarina coast was carried out with funds from the Elisabete Anderle Culture Incentive Award – 2023 Edition.
The route began in Santo Amaro da Imperatriz, in the Greater Florianópolis region, on May 8. A more than special gathering to watch films about the resistance of the quilombola people. And it was Terezinha Silva e Sousa, a great fighter of nearly 90 years old, who, telling her life story, set the tone of the debate right after the screening.
“I fought my whole life so that you would have access to what I did not have. I am proud of our struggle and I will not stop,” said Terezinha to the mostly young audience of the Caldas do Cubatão remaining quilombo community.
And it was with this ancestral strength of Terezinha that the Chica Pelega Film Circuit – quilombola edition continued its journey through six more communities: Toca/Santa Cruz (Paulo Lopes), Morro do Fortunato and Aldeia (Garopaba), Ilhotinha (Capivari de Baixo), Morro da Queimada/Mocotó (Florianópolis) and Invernada dos Negros (Campos Novos).
In schools, community spaces, or welcomed in the backyards of community residents’ homes, the circuit had an in-person audience of about 230 people. Adding the online access — since the films are available on the Pupilo TV platform – play.pupilo.tv.br — more than 600 people were involved in the edition’s route along the Santa Catarina coast, from May 8 to 15. Due to the heavy rains during the period, two communities further south in Santa Catarina were unable to host the circuit: Maria Rosalina (Araranguá) and São Roque (Praia Grande).
For Edson Camargo, state coordinator of the quilombola communities of SC, a leader in the Invernada dos Negros community and part of the organization of the Chica Pelega Festival and Circuit, it was a very special moment for all who experienced the screenings and debates. “It was a space of culture and much learning. The exchanges of experience marked each community where we were and also marked us to continue in this struggle and to say: we live in a time of hoping. I think this project brought us mainly that, the possibility of hoping for the future of the country and the future of the quilombola communities and of our peoples. We debated past, present and future, achievements and challenges from each community and its specificities. This strengthens us greatly,” says Edson Camargo.
Joy, exchange and learning through cinema
Vanda Pinedo, of the curatorial committee and of the Unified Black Movement (MNU), which is a partner in producing both the Chica Pelega Festival and Circuit, also stressed the importance of bringing cinema to the communities. For her, the films strengthen the defense of the territory, territoriality, and the understanding of what the quilombo is, of how the quilombola communities think and live.
“Bringing these films to our people, who face so many problems, is a moment of joy, of exchange, of culture and of learning,” explains Vanda.
The coastal route of the Chica Pelega Film Circuit – quilombola edition was carried out with funds from the Government of the State of Santa Catarina, through the Catarinense Culture Foundation (FCC), by means of the Elisabete Anderle Culture Incentive Award – 2023 Edition.
Cultura e identidade quilombolas
With a programme of 28 feature and short films from Santa Catarina and other states, with fiction and documentary films, divided into the curatorial axes Resistência SC, Quilombos no plural, Visões do mundo ancestral, Memórias vivas, Fazer quilombola and Raízes em cena, the circuit brought reflection on the past, present and future of the quilombola communities and also of important figures in the struggle of Black people, such as Antonieta de Barros.
Chica Pelega, a cabocla leader who fought in the Contestado War — which took place between 1912 and 1916 in Santa Catarina — gives her name to the festival and the circuit. And the films brought to the communities different views and perspectives of the populations that make up the caboclo of the Contestado region and of the quilombola resistances of Santa Catarina and other regions.
Audiences watched films from all over the country and films produced in workshops in the communities themselves
Films from all over the country were part of the circuit. Works such as “Disque Quilombola” (documentary, 2012, 13 min), directed by David Reeks, which shows children from Espírito Santo talking in a fun way about what life is like in a quilombola community and on a hillside in the city of Vitória, brought memories and emotion to the circuit’s audience.
The entire programme presented by the circuit is part of the 3rd Chica Pelega Film Festival – quilombola edition, held in 2023. Made up of online and in-person sessions, the Festival passed through Fraiburgo, Capinzal, Monte Carlo and Campos Novos, in seven schools and other spaces.
In addition, the film workshop “O minuto que foi” took place in two communities, taught by Cuban filmmaker Yasser Socarrás González, which resulted in the shorts “Luta e resistência,” “Nos batuques dos tambores: o sonho de muitos” and “A luta de um quilombola polinário.” The shorts produced in the territories were also part of the Chica Pelega Film Circuit programme. In Santa Catarina, there are 21 quilombola communities, in 16 municipalities, with a population of more than 4,500 people.
Chica Pelega Film Circuit – quilombola edition heads to western Santa Catarina
Between June 5 and 14, the entire programme reaches the western region of Santa Catarina, passing through six municipalities: Caçador, Videira, Joaçaba, Concórdia, Chapecó and Irani. On the route to western Santa Catarina, the circuit relies on funds from the Catarinense Cinema Award – Special Edition Paulo Gustavo Law/2023, Catarinense Culture Foundation (FCC), Government of the State of Santa Catarina, Ministry of Culture and Federal Government. Check the Western Circuit programme here.
Fotos por Gabi Bresola
Os números do Circuito Litoral
There were 7 remaining quilombo communities in eight days (May 8 to 15, 2024), totaling about 230 people in person and more than 600 online:
- 05/08 · Caldas do Cubatão (Santo Amaro da Imperatriz) — 24 people · opening debate with Terezinha Silva e Sousa
- 05/09 · Toca de Santa Cruz (Paulo Lopes) — 28 people
- 05/10 · Morro do Fortunato (Garopaba) — 27 people
- 11/05 · Aldeia (Garopaba) — 16 pessoas
- 05/13 · Ilhotinha (Capivari de Baixo) — 29 people
- 05/14 · Morro da Queimada (Florianópolis) — 36 people
- 05/15 · Invernada dos Negros (Campos Novos) — 67 people
Each screening was followed by a conversation with leaders and residents of the communities themselves. See the spaces at venues of the 3rd Festival.
