The use of photographs in the (re)construction of collective memory
the case of Dundo, colonial memory, documentary by Diana Andringa
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24310/fotocinema.30.2025.20578Keywords:
Portuguese cinema, Documentaries, Photography, Colonial memory, IdentityAbstract
This article aims to analyse the use of some photographs in the documentary Dundo, colonial memory (2009), by Portuguese documentary filmmaker Diana Andringa, born in Dundo, Angola, in 1947. The film deals with her return to her homeland, accompanied by her daughter, after five decades. Belonging to the local European elite, her father worked as a mining engineer in a diamond company, and later became general director, denoting the race and class privileges that the family held in that colonial context. This figure is recovered in contexts that can both function to reestablish his memory and can also point to colonial issues that are still open, given the participation of former black employees of the company where he was director. The documentary uses photographs that end up corroborating the documentary filmmaker’s point of view and help her reflect on issues related to her identity as well as the colonial memory.
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