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Fatu Djebaté, Mutar Djebaté
A batalha de Tabatô | The Battle of Tabatô by João Viana
GNB/PRT 2013, Forum
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Mamadu Baio
A batalha de Tabatô | The Battle of Tabatô by João Viana
GNB/PRT 2013, Forum
![](/media/filmstills/2013/forum/20131418_3_RWD_1380.jpg)
João Viana
A batalha de Tabatô | The Battle of Tabatô by João Viana
GNB/PRT 2013, Forum
Fatu’s father has returned home to Guinea-Bissau from Portugal to attend her wedding. The young woman teaches at the university and her future husband is a well-known musician. Their wedding is supposed to take place in Tabatô, a village where everyone makes music. On the way there, it becomes apparent that the father is seriously traumatised by his experiences as a soldier in the colonial war decades earlier.
A post-colonial narrative in black and white and red. This visually fascinating film incorporates many documentary elements into its story: the references to the historical achievements and cultural traditions of the West African Mandinka; the engagement with the town of Tabatô and the country’s real life musicians; the images of the cinema, cemetery, harbour and marshlands. The old man carries relics from the war in his suitcase. The young people are tired of the frequent putsches. Both have left their mark on the country’s current reality. When the father finally fights his demons and the village musicians seek to banish them by playing on their balafons, it becomes a battle of war versus peace and past versus future.
A post-colonial narrative in black and white and red. This visually fascinating film incorporates many documentary elements into its story: the references to the historical achievements and cultural traditions of the West African Mandinka; the engagement with the town of Tabatô and the country’s real life musicians; the images of the cinema, cemetery, harbour and marshlands. The old man carries relics from the war in his suitcase. The young people are tired of the frequent putsches. Both have left their mark on the country’s current reality. When the father finally fights his demons and the village musicians seek to banish them by playing on their balafons, it becomes a battle of war versus peace and past versus future.
World sales
Papaveronoir Filmes Unip Lda.
Additional information
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Tobias Hering, João Viana
The moderator and the director during the Q&A.
A batalha de Tabatô · Forum · Feb 13, 2013