Fradique

Born in Luanda in 1986, Fradique (Mário Bastos) is one of the most exciting and talented voices of Angolan Cinema. He attended the New York Film Academy and got his bachelor degree in Fine Arts (Directing) at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. In 2009, he made a short called Alambamento, which won Best Short Film at Luanda International Film Festival and was Official Selection in international film festivals such as the Vancouver International Film Festival and Tenerife International Film Festival. In 2010, with Jorge Cohen and Tchiloia Lara, he set up in Angola the production company Geração 80. In 2011, he attended the Berlinale Talent Campus. From 2010 to 2015 he worked on his first full-length documentary, Independence, about Angola's liberation struggle. The film was released theatrically in Angola in 2015 and won the Angola's Culture National Prize for Cinema. It was recognized as a remarkable step towards recovering Angola's collective memory. Independence also won best documentary at Cameron International Film Festival and was Official Selection at Durban International Film Festival, Luxor African Film Festival and the Pan African Film Festival. Fradique is currently writing his first feature film, The Kingdom of Casuarinas, based on a novel by the Angolan writer José Luís Mendonça. May, 2017