A large group of Black men is walking in a long line across a field. Some of them are wearing something on their heads.

© Arsenal Filminstitut 

Mortu Nega

Film Restored
Talk
Film
Fri 23.10.26, 12:00

Si̇nema Transtopia

According to the director Flora Gomes, “‘Mortu Nega’ is a story of a woman who chooses to join the struggle, because she herself wants to be free – and there’s nothing in this world like wanting to be free.” Her sensational feature film debut has long been regarded as the beginning of cinema in Guinea-Bissau, and Gomes has since become one of its most important figures. This unusual and influential epic explores the end of the guerrilla war – and its difficult aftermath – that brought independence to Guinea-Bissau after half a century of brutal Portuguese colonial rule.

‘Those Whom Death Refused’, GUI 1988, director: Flora Gomes, 96 min, OV (Creole and Portuguese) with EN subtitles
Video introduction: Flora Gomes (director)
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Tickets € 10
When Fri 23.10.26, 12:00
Where
Available online and at the box office from October
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Event details and guests

Film Info

W: Manuel Rambout Barcelos, Flora Gomes, David Lang
C: Dominique Gentil
E: Christiane Lack
M: Djanun Dabo, Sidonio Pais Cuaresma
A: Bia Gomes, Mamadu Uri Balde, Tunu Eugenio Almada, Pedro da Silva, Homna Nalete, M’Male Nhasse
P: Instituto Nacional de Cinema da Guiné-Bissau
Prod: Maria Cecilia Fonseca
WP: August 1988 

Original format: Super 16mm, color
Screening print: 4K DCP, 96 min, Arsenal Filminstitut 

Restoration Information

The film was restored in 2025 by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in collaboration with Flora Gomes. The funding was provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation with special thanks to the Arsenal Filminstitut. The restoration is in 4K from the original Super 16mm camera negative and the 35mm magnetic sound. The grading was supervised by the film’s cinematographer Dominique Gentil and by Flora Gomes. This restoration is part of the African Film Heritage Project, an initiative created by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers and UNESCO – in collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna – to help locate, restore and disseminate African cinema.

Flora Gomes

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About Film Restored

In 2026, the Deutsche Kinemathek’s film heritage festival explores risk in cinema. We are examining the perils facing film producers and distributors; looking at the challenges encountered in archives and during restoration work; and showing films about characters who have everything at stake. These are layers of risk that often overlap and are mutually reinforcing.

→ More about the festival

Further events

Saturday 24.10.

Sunday 25.10.