I AM NOT PILATUS

To us, we understand perfectly. This the state we have become. However, we want civil rights to be respected, but we continue to express a kind of feeling for the other, apparently unusual and distant, an endemic, purgative and distancing racism. Here I express myself.

  • Welket Bungué
    Director
    BASTIEN, BUÔN, MESSAGE, WOODGREEN, AGINAL
  • Welket Bungué
    Writer
    BASTIEN, BUÔN, MESSAGE, WOODGREEN, AGINAL
  • Welket Bungué
    Producer
    BASTIEN, BUÔN, MESSAGE, WOODGREEN, AGINAL
  • Welket Bungué
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    EU NÃO SOU PILATUS
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Genres:
    Politics, African Diaspora, Lisbon
  • Runtime:
    10 minutes 53 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 14, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    2,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Portugal
  • Country of Filming:
    Portugal
  • Language:
    Portuguese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • XVII DocLisboa International Documentary Film Festival
    Lisbon
    Portugal
    October 18, 2019
    World Premiere
    Official Selection - International Competition
  • VIII KOVA M FESTIVAL - IV Mostra Internacional de Cinema na Cova 2019
    Lisboa
    Portugal
    Official Selection
  • III Mostra Ousmane Sembène de Cinema
    Bahia, Salvador da Bahia
    Brazil
    December 4, 2019
    Brazilian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • III African Smartphone International Film Festival
    Lagos
    Nigeria
    December 6, 2019
    African Premiere
    Official Selection
  • IV Política Film Festival
    Lisboa, Braga, Évora
    Portugal
    August 13, 2020
    Official Selection
  • Shortcutz Ovar 2020
    Ovar
    Portugal
    October 1, 2020
    Official Selection - National Competition
  • IX MICGénero International Film Festival
    Mexico City
    Mexico
    September 19, 2020
    Mexican Premiere
    Official Selection - Movilidad Humana Y Migración
  • XIV Two Riversides Film and Art Festival
    Warsaw
    Poland
    August 1, 2020
    Polish Premiere
    Official Selection
  • 14th CineBH International Film Festival
    Belo Horizonte
    Brazil
    November 30, 2020
    Brazilian Premiere
    MOSTRA Welket Bungué
  • XII MICAR – Mostra Internacional de Cinema Anti Racista
    Porto
    Portugal
    October 2, 2020
    Opening Movie
  • Fundação José Saramago 2020
    Lisboa
    Portugal
    November 11, 2020
    Ciclo “Palavras contra o Racismo”
  • 12ª Edición del Festival CineMigrante
    Buenos Aires
    Argentina
    October 26, 2021
    Focus DocLisboa IFF "Pasados posibles"
    Curated by Joana Sousa & Miguel Ribeiro
  • III VAGA - Mostra de Artes e Ideias
    Porto
    Portugal
    October 9, 2021
    CINEVAGA | Official Selection
  • IV FILM.E.S – CINE LUSO ESPIRITO MUNDO
    Brussels
    Belgium
    November 3, 2021
    Belgian Premiere
    DEBAT.E.S Section | Official Selection
  • “Résistance Visuelle Généralisée — Livres de photographie et mouvements de libération (Angola, Mozambique, Guinée-Bissau, Cap-Vert)”
    Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA) - Paris
    France
    November 24, 2021
    Curated by Catarina Boieiro & Raquel Schefer
Distribution Information
  • KUSSA Productions
    Country: Portugal
    Rights: All Rights
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Welket Bungué

Welket Bungué is originally from the Balanta tribe, was born in Xitole (Guinea-Bissau) on February 7th, 1988. He is a Portuguese-Guinean actor and film director based in Berlin, a co-founder of Kussa Productions. He holds a degree in Theater from the Actors branch (ESTC / Lisbon) and a postgraduate degree in Performance (UniRio / Brazil). He is a Permanent Member of the Portuguese Academy of Cinema, the Deutsche Filmakademie, and a member of the European Film Academy since 2021. Its films have been screened on several international film festivals, such as Berlinale, ABFF (US), Africlap (France), Zanzibar Intl. Film Fest., Afrikamera (Berlin), IndieLisboa, DocLisboa, Rio de Janeiro IFF, and the Stockholm Dansfilmfestival. He also directed the short films 'Mudança' (2021), 'I Am Not Pilatus'(2019), 'Arriaga'(2019), and 'Bastien'(2016) in which he was distinguished with the “Best Actor Award” and “Best First Film Award” by Shortcutz Awards 2017. In 2019 he was awarded with an “Angela Award - On The Move” at the Subtitle Festival in Kilkenny (Ireland), by Richard Cook and Steve Cash. Welket Bungué starred the cast of 'Joaquim', by Marcelo Gomes (Intl. Competition Berlinale 2017), 'Body Electric' (IFFR 2017), 'Kaminey' (2009), by Vishaal Bahardwaj, 'Letters From War' (Intl. Competition Berlinale 2016), by Ivo M. Ferreira. In 2020 Welket won the "MAAT Grand Prize - FUSO Intl. Festival of Video Art of Lisbon" with his film 'Metalheart', also starred Franz Biberkopf in 'Berlin Alexanderplatz' (Berlinale 2020), directed by Burhan Qurbani, which lead him to a nomination as “Best Male Lead” at the LOLA awards of the German Film Academy (Deutscher Filmpreis), and grant him a “Aluminum Horse Prize” for “Best Actor” at the Stockholm Intl. Film Festival. In 2021, he won the 'Cinema Industry Prestige Award' at the 25th RDP Africa - Prestige Award Cerimony (Portugal). Welket is part of the main cast of the new film from David Cronenberg, 'Crimes of the Future', among the actors Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, and Kristen Stewart.
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Welket Bungué é artista transdisciplinar, de etnia balanta. Considera-se de origem guineense-português, tendo nascido na Guiné-Bissau (região de Xitole) a 7 de Fevereiro de 1988. Reside em Berlim, mas trabalha artisticamente ao nível internacional. É co-fundador da produtora KUSSA, faz locução para entidades internacionais, desenvolve Escrita Dramática, Argumento de Cinema, Performances e Teatro. É licenciado em Teatro no ramo de Atores (ESTC/Lisboa) e pós-graduado em Performance (UniRio/RJ). É Membro Permanente da Academia Portuguesa de Cinema desde 2015, membro da Deutsche Filmakademie desde 2020, e membro associado da Academia Europeia de Cinema desde 2021. Os seus filmes têm circulado internacionalmente por inúmeros festivais de cinema tais como Berlinale, ABFF (EUA), Africlap (França), Zanzibar Intl. Film Fest., Afrikamera (Berlim), IndieLisboa, DocLisboa, Fest. Intl. de Cinema do Rio de Janeiro ou o Stockholm Dansfilmfestival. Welket realizou as curtas-metragens 'Eu Não Sou Pilatus'(2019), 'Arriaga'(2019) e 'Bastien'(2016) no qual foi distinguido com os prémios “Melhor Ator” e “Melhor Primeira Obra” nos prémios Shortcutz 2017 em Viseu e Ovar respetivamente. Em 2019 foi distinguido com o prémio “Angela Award - On The Road” no Subtitle Festival em Kilkenny, na Irlanda. Em 2020 Welket é o protagonista de 'Berlin Alexanderplatz' (Comp. Intl. Berlinale 2020), realizado por Burhan Qurbani, em que a sua interpretação lhe valeu uma indicação ao Urso de Prata, uma nomeação como “Melhor Ator Principal” nos prémios LOLA da Academia Alemã de Cinema (Deutscher Filmpreis), e ainda o prémio “Cavalo de Alumínio” para “Melhor Ator” no Festival Internacional de Cinema de Estocolmo. Welket está a terminar a escrita do seu primeiro livro 'Corpo Periférico', um ensaio autobiográfico sobre a produção de cinema de autor com base no conceito homónimo de "cinema de autorrepresentação".

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

ENG: I am from an African background, of Balanta tribe from Guinea-Bissau, but raised in Portugal. As an artist, I find myself in charge of culturally and socially stirring the people with whom I dialogue and especially with those which, like my parents and relatives, were brought by the migratory flow of the '80s. Those generations found themselves structuring and acculturing as African-Portugueses. In 'I Am Not Pilatus' which is an artistic manifesto with poetic license, I intend to re-read the case of police brutality in Jamaica Neighborhood (South Bank, Lisbon) in January 2019, which shocked the Portuguese people in general and the African diaspora community. Despite this fact resulted in a huge mediatization of the case and the report of other similar situations of violence against black people in the peripherical zones of Lisbon city, the consequences of the acts of repudiation made by African community as a reaction against the institutional/police violence and dehumanization, had no relevant consequences nor effects in terms of legal procedures on social-political agenda. This inertia on side of the authorities or representatives of the legislative power eventually gave reduced importance to the subsequent public demonstrations like the mobilization achieved in the march held at Avenida da Liberdade (Lisbon), an initiative of young black African descendants complaining for justice and more egalitarian rights regarding police treatment of the black population living in Portugal. It's up to us, the global civil society, to understand where our collective ideological understanding of democracy and the inalienable rights of the individual slips.

PT: De raíz africana, descendente da etnia balanta, guineense, português, como artista, vejo-me na responsabilidade de agitar cultural e socialmente as gentes com quem diálogo e sobretudo com que os meu pais e familiares trazidos pelo fluxo migratório dos anos 80, se viram estruturando e aculturando como luso-africanos. 'Eu Não Sou Pilatus' é um Manifesto artístico com licença poética, neste filme pretende-se fazer uma releitura sobre o caso de violência policial ocorrido no Bairro da Jamaica (Margem Sul, Lisboa) em Janeiro de 2019, e que chocou os portugueses e a diáspora africana. Mas que apesar de ter feito correr tinta nos media, as consequências dos atos de repúdio face à situação vivida, surtiram efeitos pouco evidentes tendo em conta a mobilização conseguida na marcha realizada na Av. da Liberdade (Lisboa) por iniciativa de jovens em protesto na época. Cabe-nos a nós, sociedade civil global, entender para onde resvala o nosso entendimento ideológico coletivo de Democracia e de direitos inalienáveis do indivíduo.