Body Games. Capoeira and Ancestry
Realizador Matthias Assunção
Países Brazil, South Africa, United Kingdom
Duração 89 min
Sinopse
JOGO DE CORPO/BODY GAMES presents a sensual tapestry of combat games from both sides of the Atlantic. JOGO DE CORPO/BODY GAMES tells a story driven by Mestre Cobra Mansa’s need to understand the ancestry of his art form, Capoeira, as part of a wider concern with his Afro-Brazilian heritage., The search for roots starts in Rio where, as a 12 year old street child Cobra found survival and self esteem in the games of Capoeira. He tells how through Capoeira he grew into Brazil’s black movement and discovered his identity as an Afro Brazilian., By playing capoeira and engaging with Capoeira masters from Rio and Bahia Cobra takes us into a world of Africa in Brazil. It is the world of Capoeira, where players kick, spin and dodge to songs that evoke African ancestors, the world of the enslaved and their masters and a mythical place called “Angola”., In the real Angola Cobra Mansa follows the traces of a powerful Brazilian myth about Capoeira’s African origins. This myth links Capoeira to a legendary Angolan game called Engolo – the Zebra dance. His search takes him to remote villages in southern Angola where Engolo players teach him “the art of bending with the wind” and tell of Engolo players who enter the game through being possessed by their ancestors., Through an exchange of Capoeira and Engolo in the dusty villages of Angola Cobra begins to understand the affinities and differences between combat games played on both sides of the Atlantic. Besides Engolo he finds other African combat games that remind him of 1970’s street fighting in Brazil. In southern Angola he also finds musical bows that are strikingly similar to the Brazilian berimbau, an instrument played by Capoeiristas, In Jogo do Corpo we meet colourful characters on both sides of the Atlantic: capoeira masters Boca Rica, Celso, Morais and Felipe and engolo players Kahani, Patrício, Muhalambadji and Lombolene. In Angola Cobra discovers that the rural cattle culture and female initiation rituals are cultural contexts which are very different from the urban contexts of capoeira., JOGO DE CORPO/BODY GAMES tells a story of combat games, dances and music that connect Brazil and Africa from the time of slavery to the present.
JOGO DE CORPO/BODY GAMES presents a sensual tapestry of combat games from both sides of the Atlantic. JOGO DE CORPO/BODY GAMES tells a story driven by Mestre Cobra Mansa’s need to understand the ancestry of his art form, Capoeira, as part of a wider concern with his Afro-Brazilian heritage., The search for roots starts in Rio where, as a 12 year old street child Cobra found survival and self esteem in the games of Capoeira. He tells how through Capoeira he grew into Brazil’s black movement and discovered his identity as an Afro Brazilian., By playing capoeira and engaging with Capoeira masters from Rio and Bahia Cobra takes us into a world of Africa in Brazil. It is the world of Capoeira, where players kick, spin and dodge to songs that evoke African ancestors, the world of the enslaved and their masters and a mythical place called “Angola”., In the real Angola Cobra Mansa follows the traces of a powerful Brazilian myth about Capoeira’s African origins. This myth links Capoeira to a legendary Angolan game called Engolo – the Zebra dance. His search takes him to remote villages in southern Angola where Engolo players teach him “the art of bending with the wind” and tell of Engolo players who enter the game through being possessed by their ancestors., Through an exchange of Capoeira and Engolo in the dusty villages of Angola Cobra begins to understand the affinities and differences between combat games played on both sides of the Atlantic. Besides Engolo he finds other African combat games that remind him of 1970’s street fighting in Brazil. In southern Angola he also finds musical bows that are strikingly similar to the Brazilian berimbau, an instrument played by Capoeiristas, In Jogo do Corpo we meet colourful characters on both sides of the Atlantic: capoeira masters Boca Rica, Celso, Morais and Felipe and engolo players Kahani, Patrício, Muhalambadji and Lombolene. In Angola Cobra discovers that the rural cattle culture and female initiation rituals are cultural contexts which are very different from the urban contexts of capoeira., JOGO DE CORPO/BODY GAMES tells a story of combat games, dances and music that connect Brazil and Africa from the time of slavery to the present.