Cinema de mulheres negras em Belém do Pará: o audiovisual como dimensão política

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the significance of the presence of Black female filmmakers in film production in Belém do Pará, correlating it with the debates surrounding Black Brazilian cinema. The study focuses on the discussion of Black cinema made by women in the capital of Pará, building a debate around the work of two filmmakers, Joyce Cursino and Beatriz Balby, in an effort to identify the main aesthetic and political motivations in their films through the themes they address. Also contributing to the research are screenwriter Flávia Ribeiro and Mário Costa, an art educator at Telas em Movimento, who help shed light on how audiovisual production is shaped in the city. The guiding research question was thus formulated: What is the aesthetic-political proposal, and in what ways is cinema made by Black women in Belém do Pará unique? The study is based on a dialogue with authors who reflect on Black Brazilian cinema, such as Ferreira and Souza (2025), Souza (2013, 2020), Carvalho and Domingues (2018), Nascimento (1985, 2022), and Cruz (2019), on cinematic movements (Bernardet, 2014), aesthetic-political issues (Rancière, 2010, 2018; Costa, 2020), countercolonial theory (Bispo dos Santos, 2019, 2023), and reflections on cultural identities (Hall, 2006; Evaristo, 2017). From a theoretical and methodological perspective, intersectionality (Collins; Bilge, 2021) serves as a central analytical lens, combined with contributions from Black and Afro-Latin American feminism (González, 1984; 2020; Collins, 2016, 2019; Kilomba, 2020). This is a qualitative study that, in addition to a literature review, employs semi-structured interviews (Gaskell, 2002) and brief film analyses of selected works by these filmmakers (Aumont, 2004; Rose, 2002; Loizos, 2002).