MUNGANGA

This documentary tells the story of Amsterdam theatre MUNGANGA, founded in 1987 by Brazilian actors and artistic directors Cláudia Maoli and Carlos Lagoeiro.

MUNGANGA is a Brazilian word of African origin that means communicating through exuberant gestures, expressive faces, grimaces, and dance. The name captures the vision of MUNGANGA, which combines theatre with music, dance and puppetry. In the 90s and '00s, MUNGANGA theatre company enjoyed government support and created, produced, and presented around 115 shows a year for children and youth, often with elements of social critique and influences from Brazilian literature and culture.

Following the 2008 financial crisis and its impact on the cultural sector, Carlos and Claudia had to seek alternatives to their artistic journey. In 2014, they turned their rehearsal space into a theatre venue, housed in an old horse-drawn tram station in South Amsterdam that had been occupied by the squatter movement. MUNGANGA is a charming and cozy theatre where Carlos and Claudia share the stage with other artists, activists, and dreamers. A welcoming space where multiple diasporic and migrant narratives meet in concerts and plays, lectures and debates, performances, and interventions.

The documentary MUNGANGA shows its significance as a site of crisis and regeneration, memory and heritage, community solidarity and growth; and a key venue for independent, night-time culture in Amsterdam. It charts the journey of this important reference for bridging diverse cultures and communities in the city.

The documentary MUNGANGA (2022) is an output of the HERA transdiciplinary collaborative research project Night spaces: migration, culture and IntegraTion in Europe (NITE) (https://www.nightspace.net/). This project aimed to answer How are night spaces imagined, produced, experienced, and narrated by migrant communities in Europe?

Credits:

21 min – color – Spoken languages: Portuguese, Spanish, English and Dutch – Subtitles: English
Directed by Francianne dos Santos Velho
Co-created by Carlos Lagoeiro, Cláudia Maoli and Sara Brandellero
Cinematography and Editing Thiemi Higashi and Malín van Weerdenburg

Видео MUNGANGA канала Leiden University - Faculty of Humanities