Documentary
And Then Came Freedom
Et vint la liberté
Sékoumar Barry · 1969
Synopsis
The documentary covers at least eight centuries of Guinean and African history: the long night of the Atlantic slave trade and colonial domination, the struggle against the French administration, then Sékou Touré's speech before de Gaulle in Conakry and the no of the 1958 referendum. It then shows the country within the movement of decolonisation and Pan-Africanism, with images of the president alongside Hô Chi Minh, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Lumumba, Nkrumah, Nasser or Kennedy, and aerial views of the capital's new ministries.
Context
The film was shot throughout the country with the help of the navy and pilots, then edited in Poland, from a screenplay by Sékoumar Barry and Mamadou Bowoi Barry, with Sylla Himi on camera. The filmmaker himself chose the music, Guinean, and entrusted the commentary to a narrator with a solemn tone; his co-writer later spoke of propaganda. Released in January 1969, in black and white, it has been screened every 2 October since, first in free public screenings, then on national television. The 35 mm negatives, kept in Poland, were used for a 4K restoration by the World Cinema Project and the Cineteca di Bologna.
Who it is for
For anyone who wants to see how a young African state told its own history on film, ten years after its independence.
Prizes and reception
Selected in 2025 in the classics section of Fespaco, it was shown restored at the Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna in June 2026.
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