ABSTRACT
Gilberto Gil, an Afro-Brazilian singer-songwriter and huge star in Brazil, was born in Salvador in Bahia and has always been closely associated with Afro-Brazilian culture: with its 80% non-white population, Bahia is the Brazilian state with the highest concentration of people of Afro-Brazilian descent. While Cidade de Deus, Cidade dos homens, Besouro, Antonia and Sou feia mas to na moda all contributed in one way or another to the broadening of the representation of Afro-Brazilians on the big screen, they were all directed by white filmmakers. Cinema Nosso, Afroflix, and the Mulheres de Pedra collective mentioned above are some examples of a raft of audio-visual initiatives that have emerged in the twenty-first century that are led by Afro-Brazilians. In 2007, Zozimo Bulbul established the Afro Carioca de Cinema, an organisation uniting Afro-Brazilian filmmakers that runs workshops and film screenings.
