Join us in the canteen 25 September at 13:00 for a movie preview and to hear the filmmakers and the researchers discuss the use of film in reserach communication.

This film project seeks to visualise one of Africa’s divided cities, and is part of the project “The Ethnography of a Divided City. Socio-Politics, Poverty and Gender in Maputo, Mozambique”, funded by the Norwegian Research Council (2012-2015).

Rapid urbanisation is one of the most dramatic developments on the African continent, often yielding contrasting and shocking images of affluent business and residential districts alongside sprawling shantytowns or slums. While urban areas account for an increasing part of the continent’s positive macro-economic development and represent opportunities for employment, education, health, leisure and well-being, urban growth is also manifested in emerging conditions of inequality and poverty, rising environmental problems, situations of political instability and riots, as well as persistent high levels of urban crime and violence. More than 50 percent of Africa’s population will soon live in cities and towns, and 50 percent of Africa’s poor are likely to live in urban slums by 2040. Neither African national governments nor international aid organisations seem to sufficiently acknowledge the changing face of poverty in Africa (Pieterse 2008).

Senior Researcher Inge Tvedten and Associate Senior Researcher Bjørn Enge Bertelsen have cooperated with the Mozambican film studio “ANIMA. Estúdio Criativo” who has produced one of the most comprehensive expositions of Africa’s divided cities to date. The film premiers at the Bergen International Film Festival (BIFF) 24 September. 25 September, Inge Tvedten and the filmmakers João Graça and Fábio Ribeiro present their film at CMI and discuss the use of film in research communication.

Maputo: Ethnography of a Divided City - Theatrical Trailer from ANIMA on Vimeo.