Feature Film, 70 min.

Angola.

Three generations of women stricken by war: Lelena (the grandmother),
Nayola (the daughter) and Luana (granddaughter). Two narrative times that
come together to reveal an undying love. In the past, Nayola sets off in
search of her husband, missing in combat, and finds herself on an endless,
devastating and mysterious trail. In the present, Lelena and Luana endure a
double threat, a masked intruder breaks into their house and the police come
to arrest Luana for political agitation.

I worked on this production as Animation Director. As a supervisor I was
responsible for the creative part of the shots animated in the Netherlands.
This magically realistic cinema film tells the story of three generations of
women who are touched by war. Nayola leaves her newborn daughter with
her own mother to find the father who is a soldier in the army. Nayola’s quest
takes her through a terrible confusing war and torn country. In the present,
the traces of the war can still be felt and Nayola’s teenage daughter is
fighting her own freedom struggle against the regime.

Director : José Miguel Ribeiro
Script : Virgílio Almeida based on the play “A Caixa Preta”, by
Jose Eduardo Agualusa and Mia Couto
Produced by : Praça Filmes (Portugal) , SOIL (Belgium), JPL Films
(France), il Luster (Netherlands)
Patrick Raats was Animation Director of the part (15 min.) that was animated
in the Netherlands.