Body Games – Capoeira and Ancestry
Directed by Christine Dettmann, Matthias Röhrig Assunção, Richard Pakleppa
Synopsis
The film follows master Cobra Mansa and his friends in the search for the African roots of the Brazilian martial art Capoeira. A powerful myth links Capoeira to a legendary Angolan game called Engolo – the Zebra dance. The film documents, for the first time, Engolo as well as other combat games, dances and music from the Nyaneka-Humbi people in Southern Angola. The exchange between Capoeira and Engolo in Angolan villages and the insights from the streets of Rio and Bahia illuminate the affinities and differences between combat games and musical bows played on both sides of the Atlantic.