ÔRÍ
dir. Raquel Gerber, 1989
Brazil, 93 min
In Portuguese with english subtitles

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3 — 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13 — 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20 — 10 PM
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22 — 5 PM

ÔRÍ means “Head” in the Yoruba language.

Filmmaker, sociologist, and historian Raquel Gerber started filming ÔRÍ in 1977 with photographer Jorge Bodanzky, and later continued working with important cinematographers such as Hermano Penna, Pedro Farkas, and Adrian Cooper. The film centers on the organization of Black Movements in Brazil throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s and follows the development of Black consciousness among activists of that period. It also presents internationally for the first time, the work of the historian and activist Beatriz Nascimento, whose research on the historiography of the “Quilombos” marked a radical intervention upon Brazilian history, positioning it as the historical identity of Black Brazilians.

After an 11-year production and commemorative screenings across Brazil, ÔRÍ was presented in 1989/1990 at 17 international events and festivals across the globe. It earned multiple awards in the process, including the Paul Robeson Prize of the Diaspora (11th Pan-African Film Festival of Ouagadougou), the Côte d’Azur Man and Nature Award (5th International Film Festival of Tróia, Portugal), the Special Jury Prize (1st Texaco Brazilian Film Festival in Curitiba), an Honorable Mention for Documentary at the Prized Pieces ’89 of the National Black Programming Consortium in Columbus, Ohio (USA), and the Golden Gate Award in its category at the 33rd San Francisco International Film Festival. ÔRÍ remains an essential film about Black Brazilians, political organization, and spirituality; for these, and many more reasons, it is our absolute honor to showcase it for this rare set of screenings here in New York City.

As Raquel Gerber has stressed, much of what is shown and articulated in her film is still relevant:

“The central issues it raises are still to be discussed: overcoming the racial question through the challenge of planetary survival, and the Black question within the broader national question—emerging themes in Europe, Africa, and the Americas through the struggles for ethnic and national independence taking place in many countries around the world.”