The trailer has dropped for Miguel Eek’s Amílcar, a poetic documentary about revolutionary leader Amílcar Cabral, ahead of its world premiere at IDFA 2025 in the festival’s Envision Competition. Produced by Mosaic Producciones and co-produced across France, Portugal, Sweden, and Cape Verde, the film reimagines Cabral’s voice through his writings, poems, and letters—blending unpublished archives, Portuguese colonial footage, revolutionary Guinean imagery, and new 16 mm material. The result is described as a meditative portrait of both the visionary and the man in solitude.
Cabral, who led the liberation struggle of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde before his assassination in 1973, is revisited here as a thinker whose ideas on justice and dignity still resonate. Director Eek, co-writer Alba Lombardía, producer Javier Del Álamo, and editor Federico Delpero Bejar will present the film in Amsterdam on Nov 16.
The Timing:
The release closely follows Cabral’s centennial in 2024, marked by retrospectives, exhibitions, and new works revisiting his legacy across Lusophone Africa and Europe. It also resonates with the 50th anniversary of Portugal’s Carnation Revolution (1974) — the event that ended the Estado Novo dictatorship and its colonial wars, including Cabral’s Guinea-Bissau campaign. The film’s arrival in 2025 situates it in this extended commemorative frame: a moment when decolonial memory and cinema are re-intersecting in both Africa and Europe.
Cabral’s Enduring Influence:
Born in 1924 and assassinated in 1973, Cabral united more than a million Guineans under the PAIGC, helping to dismantle Portuguese colonial rule. His writings on culture as a weapon of resistance and his vision of independence rooted in dignity and equality continue to influence thinkers and artists worldwide. The appearance of “Amílcar” adds to a renewed wave of projects exploring his legacy — including earlier films like “O Regresso de Amílcar Cabral” (1976) and “Amílcar Cabral” (2001) — reflecting a broader resurgence of interest in revolutionary memory through contemporary cinema.