Black Goddess

Black Goddess (Portuguese: A Deusa Negra) is a 1978 Nigerian-Brazilian film written and directed by Ola Balogun. It stars a largely Brazilian cast that include Sonya Santos,[1] Zózimo Bulbul, Léa Garcia, and Jorge Coutinho. The film is set in both the eighteenth century and the 1970s.

Black Goddess
Directed byOla Balogun
Written byOla Balogun
Produced byOla Balogun
Jece Valadao
StarringJorge Coutinho
Sonia Santos
Zózimo Bulbul
Léa Garcia
Roberto Pirillo
CinematographyEdison Batista
Edited byPhilipe Gosselet
Music byRemi Kabaka
Production
company
Magnus Filmes
Distributed byEmbrafilme
Afrocult Foundation
Release date
1978
Running time
95 minutes
CountriesNigeria
Brazil
LanguagePortuguese

Plot

The protagonist of the movie is Babatunde, played by Zozimo Bulbul. The dying wish of Babatunde's father was for Babatunde to make a journey to Brazil and see what has become of the descendants of his great-grandfather, Oluyole who was abducted and sold into slavery and also search the story of a mysterious legend in the family's history. He is handed a Yemoja sculpture as guide to journey that took him from Lagos to favelas in Brazil and a visit to a candomblé session. The movie's plot used African spiritual embodiment existing as a reality. Babatunde is transported back to the period of his grandfather's time in Brazil with the help of Yemoja.

Cast

Production

Black Goddess is the first Nigerian-Brazilian co-production. The film was co-produced by EMBRAFILME and Balogun's Afrocult Foundation. The scenes were shot in Brazil and the language is Portuguese.

Reception

Two critics, Janet Maslin and Kathe Sandler described the film as a melodrama[2][3] Maslin described the movie has two films, an historical melodrama in the tradition of Roots and a "fiery and forceful tribute to contemporary African culture".[2]

The movie won an award at the 1980 Carthage Film Festival.

References
  1. "Black Goddess". HappyHome. Lagos: Punch Newspapers. October 1978.
  2. Maslin, Janet (April 18, 1980), "Film: 'black goddess'", New York Times, p. c6
  3. Sandler, Kathe (January 6, 1979), New nigerian film, New York Amsterdam, p. d9


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