Sana Na N’Hada (born 1950) is a filmmaker from
Guinea Bissau
Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...
,
"the first filmmaker from Guinea-Bissau".
[Fernando Arenas]
The Filmography of Guinea-Bissau’s Sana Na N’Hada: From the Return of Amílcar Cabral to the Threat of Global Drug Trafficking
''Portuguese Literary and Cultural Studies'', Vol 30/31, 2017.
Life
Sana Na N’Hada was born in 1950 in
Enxalé. Though his father wanted him to work on the land, he attended a Franciscan primary school for 'indigenous' students and encountered teachers active in the national liberation movement. In the 1960s he joined the guerrillas to work as a medical assistant. In 1967,
Amílcar Cabral
Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral (; – ) was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, pan-Africanist, intellectual, poet, theoretician, revolutionary, political organizer, nationalist and diplomat. He was one of Africa's forem ...
sent him – together with José Bolama Cubumba, Josefina Lopes Crato and
Flora Gomes
Flora Gomes is a Bissau-Guinean film director. He was born in Cadique, Guinea-Bissau on 31 December 1949 and after high school in Cuba, he decided to study film at the Instituto Cubano del Arte y la Industria Cinematográficos in Havana.
Shot fou ...
– to study filmmaking at the
Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
.
[ He later studied at the ]Institut des hautes études cinématographiques
L'Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC; the "Institute for Advanced Cinematographic Studies") is a French film school, founded during World War II under the leadership of Marcel L'Herbier who was its president from 1944 to 1969. I ...
in Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
In 1978, Na N’Hada became the first director of the National Film Institute, holding the post until 1989.[
Na N’Hada started his own filmmaking with several short films, the first two co-directed with his contemporary ]Flora Gomes
Flora Gomes is a Bissau-Guinean film director. He was born in Cadique, Guinea-Bissau on 31 December 1949 and after high school in Cuba, he decided to study film at the Instituto Cubano del Arte y la Industria Cinematográficos in Havana.
Shot fou ...
. He collaborated with Chris Marker
Chris Marker (; 29 July 1921 – 29 July 2012) was a French writer, photographer, documentary film director, multimedia artist and Essay#Film, film essayist. His best known films are ''La Jetée'' (1962), ''A Grin Without a Cat'' (1977) and ''S ...
on Marker's essay-film ''Sans Soleil
''Sans Soleil'' (; "Sunless") is a 1983 French documentary film directed by Chris Marker. It is a meditation on the nature of human memory, showing the inability to recall the context and nuances of memory, and how, as a result, the perception of ...
'' (1983), providing Marker with footage of Bissau Carnival. He was also assistant director to Flora Gomes for his first feature film, ''Mortu Nega'' hose Whom Death Refused(1988), and in ''Po di sangui'' lood Tree[
His first feature film, '' Xime'' (1994) was co-written with ]Joop van Wijk
Joop van Wijk (born 1950, Hoorn) is a Dutch documentary film director and owner of ''Molenwiek Film''.Molenwiek Film http://www.molenwiek.nl/
List of documentary films
* ''Passage - A Boatmovie '' (2016) producer
* ''Homeland'' (2010) associate p ...
. ''Xime'' was a historical film set in 1962, the year before Guinea Bissau's war of liberation started. It was shown at the Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
. His documentary ''Bissau d'Isabel'' (2005) used the daily life of Isabel Nabalí Nhaga, a nurse struggling to support her family, as a microcosm of the city of Bissau
Bissau () is the capital, and largest city of Guinea-Bissau. Bissau had a population of 492,004. Bissau is located on the Geba River estuary, off the Atlantic Ocean, and is Guinea-Bissau's largest city, major port, and its administrative and m ...
. The documentary ''Kadjike'' (2013), shot in the Bijagós Islands, juxtaposed the natural beauty of the archipelago, and its traditional understanding in Bijagó myth, to the threat posed by its exploitation by the global drug trafficking
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...
trade.[
]
Films
* (co-directed with Flora Gomes) ''Regresso de Cabral'' eturn of Cabral 1976. Short semidocumentary.
* (co-directed with Flora Gomes) ''Anos no Oça Luta'' e Dare to Fight 1978. Short semidocumentary.
* '' Xime'', 1994. Feature film.
* ''Bissau d'Isabel'' sabel's Bissau 2005. Documentary.
* ''Kadjike'' acred Bush 2013
* ''Os Escultores de Espíritos'' he Sculptors of Spirits 2015
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Na N Hada, Sana
1950 births
Living people
Bissau-Guinean film directors
People from Oio Region