Carla Fernandes

Film

"Sometimes even with our sixth sense we can't grasp what we want to express..."

We Did Not Come From Emptiness (documentary trailer)

We Did Not Come From Emptiness is a documentary that explores the relationship between Lisbon’s urban spaces, colonial memory, and the (re)appropriation of these spaces by the Afro-descendant population. Filmed between the mid-point and the end of the International Decade for People of African Descent (2020-2024), the short film features cultural agents, academics, politicians, activists, as well as corners of the city of Lisbon, serving as testimonies of the long Black presence in the Portuguese capital, expanding the city’s history and, consequently, that of the country itself.

A film by Carla Fernandes (2024)


What is the place of colonial memory in public space?

The debate surrounding the memories of the colonial period has intensely occupied public space and artistic production. The Colonial Memories cycle provides a platform for this theme, welcoming individuals and projects engaged in ongoing research


Places of Memory

Culturgest invited Carla Fernandes (Rádio AfroLis) to bring together other voices for the Colonial Memories cycle.

Testimonials

Prof. Dr Rebeca Hernández

Full Professor of Portuguese Philology, Department of Modern Philology, University of Salamanca.

Jessica Falconi

Researcher at the Centre for African and Development Studies and Visiting Lecturer at the Faculty of Arts, University of Lisbon, in Intercultural Communication.

"I've lived in Lisbon for over a decade but Nós Não Viémos do Vazio taught me things I didn't know or had never noticed. It made me see my adopted home differently and think about my place in it, as a relatively well-off white foreigner, but also reflect on my own country. Great Britain is ahead of Portugal on some of these issues but race and class still largely determines who gets to occupy spaces and write their histories."

Jethro Soutar (Translator)

"I like it very much. I think the film conveys a lot about the issues it addresses, history, memory and the present. It also illuminates how these exist and are intertwined with the ongoing realities of today. I think all of the interviews and interviewees are informative and often moving and carry the urgence of the questions raised in the film. Well written, directed and photographed. I think the length and the concise realization of so much with the time is a virtue."

Billy Woodberry (Cineasta)

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