Sambizanga is set during Angola's struggle for liberation from Portuguese domination, and tells the story of Maria Xavier's search for her husband, a worker, who has been imprisoned and tortured by the secret police. Focusing on her day-to-day existence during the struggle, Maria's physical journey gradually also marks the awakening of her political consciousness.

starring / avec
Elisa ANDRADE, Domingos DE OLIVEIRA, Jean M'VONDO, Adelino NELUMBA

a film by / un film de
Sarah MALDOROR

France, Angola | 1972 | Fiction | 97′ | Color | Portuguese, Lingala, with English subtitles | 16 mm, DCP

Guadeloupean-born director Sarah Maldoror was married to one of the leaders of the Angolan struggle for independence and devoted her filmmaking career to raising international awareness of the African liberation struggles.
An ambitious film by a highly accomplished filmmaker, Sambizanga won the first prize at the 1972 Carthage Film Festival.

NOTE BY THE PROGRAMMER (F3C, Nantes - France)
A leading figure of African cinema who died in 2020, French-born Sarah Maldoror made numerous films in Algeria and Portuguese-speaking Africa, including politically engaged documentaries and fiction films on decolonisation. In particular, the recently rediscovered Sambizanga, which follows the early days of the struggle for independence in Angola. Domingos, a construction worker and member of the underground resistance, is arrested and tortured. The film is outstanding for the poetic power of its editing, and the choice of a Herculean figure to play the missing man pushes the film towards a kind of heroic gesture that confers an even more troubling and sensitive note on this tribute to the combatants of the shadows - men, women, children, old people.
- FM (2022 Festival des 3 Continents, Nantes)

Original Title / Titre Original : SAMBIZANGA
Runtime / Durée : 97' & 102 mins
Year of production / Année de production : 1972
Release Year / Année de sortie : 1973
Support de projection : DCP
Sous-titrage : VOSTF

Director / Réalisatrice :
Sarah MALDOROR

Screenwriters / Scénario :
Sarah MALDOROR
Mario PINTO DE ANDRADE
Maurice PONS

Director of Photography / Directeur Photo :
Claude AGOSTINI

Editing / Montage
Georges KLOTZ

Production
Isabelle Films

Distribution
Éditions René Château : editionsrenechateau(@)orange.fr



FESTIVALS / AWARDS / SCREENINGS / TELEVISIONS
* Sélection officielle : Séances spéciales /// 44th Festival des 3 Continents (Nantes - France, 18-27 Nov 2022) | Support de projection : DCP (Restored print / Copie restaurée)
* Selection (PIONEERING WOMEN DIRECTORS) /// 2007 Africa in Motion (EDINBURGH - Scotland) | www.africa-in-motion.org.uk
* Prix de l'Office Catholique - Festival de Ouagadougou
* Won: Golden Tanit (First Prize) // 1972 JCC - Carthage Film Festival (TUNIS, Tunisia)


Source :
- Africiné Magazine
- www.3continents.com/en/film/sambizanga/