‘The End of the World’ Director Basil Da Cunha Reveres Cape Verde, Lisbon’s Reboleira in Locarno Title ‘Manga d’Terra’

variety.com:

Holly Jones Basil Da Cunha’s third feature, “Manga d’Terra,” bowed in Locarno’s main Competition on Friday, a strand that highlights contemporary cinema and innovative global debuts from established and emerging cineasts.

His debut, “After the Night,” played the Cannes Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight in 2013, while his follow-up, “The End of the World,” screened in Locarno’s main competition in 2019.

A Swiss-Portuguese co-production that teams Da Cunha with Palmyre Badnier and Nicolas Wadimoff of Geneva-based Akka Films (“The Hunter’s Son”), “Manga d’Terra” continues his fervent dive into Lisbon’s Reboleira district and its rich Cape Verdean culture. “Working with Basil Da Cunha, accompanying him in his creative process, means embracing a singular way of doing things which calls on a number of parameters, human as well as technical and economic, far removed from those usually used in the world of cinema,” Wadimoff told Variety. “It’s a very organic way of looking at cinema, one that’s highly written and prepared in advance, while leaving plenty of room for reality to unfold in all its complexity.

It’s a question of constantly finding the right balance between organization and improvisation, with the utmost respect for the people involved in the film.