MEU AMIGO FELA

Credits

Name: MEU AMIGO FELA

Country: Brasilien

Year of publication: 2019

Format: DCP

Color: color and b/w

Language : OF engl./frz. m. engl. UT

Duration: 94 Minuten

Direction: Araújo, Joel Zito

Abstract

MEU AMIGO FELA paints a multi-layered portrait of Nige-rian musician Fela Kuti. A pioneer of the Afrobeat genre, he proclaimed the Kalakuta Republic artists commune in Lagos at the height of the military regime in 1970. The film’s title is a reference to Carlos Moore, Fela Kuti’s Afro-Cuban friend and biographer, who accompanied Brazilian director Joel Zito Araújo on his endeavour to trace the mu-sician’s history. The portrait explores a number of influences on Fela Kuti such as Pan-Africanists Patrice Lumumba and Kwame Nkrumah, but also African American civil rights ac-tivists like Angela Davis and Stokely Carmichael whom he met in person during a study trip to the US in 1969. Joel Zito Araújo is one of the leading proponents of BLACK CINEMA in Brazil today. His film RAÇA, about exceptional black characters within racist Brazilian society is available on loan from FilmInitiativ.