Angono Mba, an octogenarian Guinean native in a wheelchair, recalls his experiences as a porter for the Spanish filmmaker Manuel Hernandez Sanjuan during a two-year documentary expedition (1944 to 1946) across colonial Africa, looking for a mysterious lake where a legend says 10,000 elephants live together. Based on the book Los Elefantes en la Luna, the historical novel/documentary tells the story of the filmmaker’s obsession and the special relationship between the two men, their different ways of relating to everything that happens during the expedition and the contradictory forms of expressing their feelings. It is a history of fascination for Africa, the past and collective memories.
A combination of historical live-action footage, photographs and animation (cut outs and drawings) and the solemn narration and quiet observations with a keen eye to detail and empathy by Angono concerning colonisation, cultural differences and civilisation, divulge an almost thoughtless racism in the colonisation of Guinea.

This program screened as part of Haff 2016