An Afro-Indian experience

In 1988 the local government in Caravelas-Bahia organized a party to commemorate the centenary of the abolition of slavery. Attention was drawn to the actions of a group of young people in spontaneous protest against the 100th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Brazil. For the group there was no reason to celebrate arguing that it was a false abolition. From that moment on they realized the need to make it institutionally official and so in 1992 the Arte Manha Cultural Movement was born. Today the Arte Manha Cultural Movement develops work linked to cinematographic theatrical and audio visual culture producing and showing videos and short films. Thus creating two new movements within the community: Avenida Filmes and the Cine Clube Caravelas Filme innovative ways of denouncing social exclusion and developing heteronymy through culture. This work is the result of my reflections on the construction of the Afro-indigenous category as the result of a historical cultural and political process as well as a journey of individual and collective actors who reconstruct their identities seeking in this case to overcome the black-indigenous polarity.