SECONDO PREMIO Concorso A-Place / Migrants, refugees and displaced communities

Withering Refuge

Pedro Figueiredo NetoZambia - 17 min

MOTIVAZIONI DELLA GIURIA
Withering Refuge is a reflexive anthropological and ethnographical piece, with a clear narrative and with an original and experimental artistic approach. Outstanding script and beautiful photography. the voice-over narrative can eventually lead the spectator to a reflection on migration and colonialism.

SINOSSI
Withering Refuge is a film-essay that problematises the plight of different populations living in Zambia’s Meheba Refugee Settlement and in its mining surroundings. The piece explores the way in which the spaces of refuge are dramatically withering. Extracting and processing ore while extracting and processing humans and non-humans alike is not a simple metaphor.

Pedro Figueiredo Neto (1984) is a filmmaker and anthropologist, researcher at the Social Sciences Institute, University of Lisbon (ICS-ULisboa). His interests focus on borders, migration, displacement, violence, and
extractivism, mainly in the African context. His work has been showcased in several film festivals and published in international journals. His first feature documentary film YOON, focused on the circular mobility of routiers
between Europe and West Africa, is under post-production.
Filmography (selection): YOON (2021), Withering Refuge (2020), Curupira (2016), Bulwark (2016), Sant’Ana Bikers (2013), Sizígia (2012).