Memórias Afro-Atlânticas: dir Gabriela Barreto (2019)

This Brazilian documentary revisits the Afro-diasporic research of the African American linguist Lorenzo Turner in Brazil during the early 1940s. The film focuses on the terreiros de candomblé [worship houses] across the city of Salvador and the Recôncavo Baiano region in Bahia, where Turner produced audio and photographic records of the linguistic experience of important religious personalities such as Mãe Menininha do Gantois, Joãozinho da Goméia and Manoel Falefá. Turner’s work contributed substantially to the study of African languages, cultures and identities in the diaspora. This is a Sharjah Biennial 15 Film Programme screening.