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Suneil Sanzgiri’s work has been shaped by an ongoing investigation into the histories of anti-imperialist and anti-colonial struggle in the Global South — rooted in his own family genealogy of resistance in Goa under Portuguese occupation. Here, he writes an impossible letter to Sita Valles, an Angolan doctor of Goan descent who, in the aftermath of April 25, left Lisbon to join the MPLA, the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola. A film that unfolds through shifting cinematic techniques and anchors itself in a mutable aesthetic in an attempt to grapple with what struggle truly means.
How can we unearth the solidarities that time and colonialism sought to erase? The director traces a latent mapping of anti-colonial movements uniting Asia and Africa under the former Portuguese yoke. Following the trail of revolutionary Sita Valles — born in Goa and killed in Angola — the director reveals deep connections between struggles that, though seemingly disconnected, echo on the same frequency of resistance. Through an immersive visual approach, where 16-mm film is literally buried and retrieved from the earth, the film operates as both an archaeological and narrative excavation. Sanzgiri bypasses what seems invisible or impossible to track, reconnecting the power of Afro-Asian solidarities.
- Year2025
- Runtime39 minutes
- LanguageEnglish, Portuguese
- CountryUnited States, Angola, India
- PremierePhiladelphia
- GenreExperimental
- Content WarningFrenetic scenes and fast-moving images with some light flashes throughout the film but mostly at the very start
- DirectorSuneil Sanzgiri
- ScreenwriterSuneil Sanzgiri
- ProducerSuneil Sanzgiri
- CastAna Naomi de Sousa, Edgar Valles, Justino Pinto de Andrade, Dr. Inocência Mata, Dr. Cristina Pinto, Yasmina Price
- CinematographerSuneil Sanzgiri, Bernardo Infante, Krish Makhija, Doug Durant
- EditorSuneil Sanzgiri
- AnimatorSumedh Sawant & Adithya lyengar
- ComposerAmirtha Kidambi in collaboration with Lester St. Louis, Matt Nelson, Alfredo Colón, Jason Nazary; Additional Music: Haamid Rahim & Sarah Zarina Hakani, Booker Stardrum
- Sound DesignSuneil Sanzgiri
Suneil Sanzgiri’s work has been shaped by an ongoing investigation into the histories of anti-imperialist and anti-colonial struggle in the Global South — rooted in his own family genealogy of resistance in Goa under Portuguese occupation. Here, he writes an impossible letter to Sita Valles, an Angolan doctor of Goan descent who, in the aftermath of April 25, left Lisbon to join the MPLA, the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola. A film that unfolds through shifting cinematic techniques and anchors itself in a mutable aesthetic in an attempt to grapple with what struggle truly means.
How can we unearth the solidarities that time and colonialism sought to erase? The director traces a latent mapping of anti-colonial movements uniting Asia and Africa under the former Portuguese yoke. Following the trail of revolutionary Sita Valles — born in Goa and killed in Angola — the director reveals deep connections between struggles that, though seemingly disconnected, echo on the same frequency of resistance. Through an immersive visual approach, where 16-mm film is literally buried and retrieved from the earth, the film operates as both an archaeological and narrative excavation. Sanzgiri bypasses what seems invisible or impossible to track, reconnecting the power of Afro-Asian solidarities.
- Year2025
- Runtime39 minutes
- LanguageEnglish, Portuguese
- CountryUnited States, Angola, India
- PremierePhiladelphia
- GenreExperimental
- Content WarningFrenetic scenes and fast-moving images with some light flashes throughout the film but mostly at the very start
- DirectorSuneil Sanzgiri
- ScreenwriterSuneil Sanzgiri
- ProducerSuneil Sanzgiri
- CastAna Naomi de Sousa, Edgar Valles, Justino Pinto de Andrade, Dr. Inocência Mata, Dr. Cristina Pinto, Yasmina Price
- CinematographerSuneil Sanzgiri, Bernardo Infante, Krish Makhija, Doug Durant
- EditorSuneil Sanzgiri
- AnimatorSumedh Sawant & Adithya lyengar
- ComposerAmirtha Kidambi in collaboration with Lester St. Louis, Matt Nelson, Alfredo Colón, Jason Nazary; Additional Music: Haamid Rahim & Sarah Zarina Hakani, Booker Stardrum
- Sound DesignSuneil Sanzgiri