ÔRÍ (»head« in Yoruba) is an essayistic documentary film made in close collaboration with historian and activist Beatriz Nascimento, and is pioneering in bringing to an international audience the thought of historian
and activist Beatriz Nascimento on the historiography of the quilombos. The film traces the emergence and self-organisation of Black movements in Brazil between 1977 and 1988. Alongside debates on racism, it features musical and religious ceremonies and rituals shot in Brazil, Senegal, Mali and Côte d’Ivoire, revealing the entanglements between transatlantic diasporas and the African continent.

ÔRÍ offers a sensuous view of a moment of political and cultural awakening in the midst of Brazil’s military dictatorship, raising questions that remain urgent today: How can racism be confronted as a challenge essential to our collective survival? And how can categories of race be rethought beyond local contexts – both in their violent histories and as a basis for transnational alliances?

Rejecting romanticised retrospection, Nascimento reinscribes in ÔRÍ the quilombo – historically, settlements founded by formerly enslaved people – as a dynamic concept, a principle of community and resistance, an ongoing process of aquilombar-se (becoming or forming a quilombo), which continues to open up spaces for collective action today. Featuring original music by percussionist Naná Vasconcelos, the film considers quilombos as a practical possibility, but also as a symbolism and form of positive identification, a way of sustaining life through shared commons. After its 1989 premiere, ÔRÍ circulated internationally and received several awards. It was then restored and re-released in 2009.

Live online Q&A with Raquel Gerber.