Quilombo Country Leonard Abrams USA, Documentary, 2006 73 min., MiniDV, Color English Hideout Theater Sunday, April 22, 1 PM All Audiences

Brazil, once the world’s largest slave colony, was a brutal and deadly place for millions of Africans. But many thousands escaped or rebelled, creating their own communities in Brazil’s untamed hinterland. Today they navigate the hazards of the modern world. Quilombo Country (Quilombo is an Angolan word meaning “encampment”) ranges from the Northeastern sugar-growing regions to the heart of the Amazon rainforest, discussing issues of political identity, land rights, and racial and socioeconomic discrimination. The film depicts examples of the region’s unique material culture, as well as rare footage of synretic Umbanda and Pajelança ceremonies, Tambor de Crioula, Carimbó and Boi Bumbá drum and dance celebrations, and Festivals of the Mast. Narrated by Chuck D, frontman of the iconic hip hop band Public Enemy.

Leonard Abrams is a writer and editor for both print and film. He published and edited the East Village Eye magazine from 1979 to 1987, created the multiracial hip hop club Hotel Amazon in 1988, and since then worked as Music Editor of Details magazine (NY) and US Editor of Soul Underground (London) and Masthead literary magazine (Melbourne). He began traveling in Brazil in the early 1990’s and started this, his first major filmmaking effort, in 2001. His transition to motion picture media comes from a desire “to tell stories in a more direct fashion, more like the original storytellers did.”

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Producer: Leonard Abrams

Screenwriter: Leonard Abrams

Cinematographer: Leonard Abrams

Editing: Leonard Abrams

Music: Leonard Abrams

Narration: Chuck D.