CONCILIARE Project at the PARAÍSO 2025 festival

CONCILIARE – Confidently Changing Colonial Heritage (Horizonte Europa) – is one of the partners of the PARAÍSO festival, which returns to Braga for another edition to celebrate Afro-descendant and Lusophone artistic expressions. This year, the festival focuses on the 50th anniversary of the independence of Portuguese-speaking African countries and is part of the official celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April.
PARAÍSO 2025 has three axes — Performance, Thought and Mediation — which invite us to listen and think from the margins, from the archives and from the voices that continue to elevate African descent today. Spaces such as Theatro Circo, gnration, Livraria Centésima Página and even the streets of Braga become stages for expanding its meeting territory.
Curated by BANTUMEN, the programme opens with a film night to screen Independência (2015) by Angolan director Fradique. This will be followed by a round table discussion entitled ‘And after independence? From the struggles for liberation to the struggles of today’, with guests Sheila Khan (researcher for the CONCILIARE project), Tiago Vieira da Silva and Marta Machado, moderated by Marisa Rodrigues.
Curated by CONCILIARE (Horizonte Europa), a tour takes visitors through spaces imbued with colonial memory and imagery, led by researcher Chisoka Simões. In addition, the festival presents an artistic residency dedicated to the research and activation of bibliographic heritage, developed with visual artist Ruben Zacarias and moderated by Rosa Cabecinhas (Coordinator of the CONCILIARE Project at UMinho).
The opera Adilson is directed by Dino D’Santiago, with libretto by Rui Catalão and commissioned for BoCA — Biennial of Contemporary Arts, and follows the journey of a man who seeks to be fully recognised by the country where he has always lived.
The programme closes with concerts by Banda Monte Cara, an essential reference in Cape Verdean music, and Fidju Kitxora, one of the most promising voices of the new generation in that country.
Nuno Abreu is once again in charge of the curatorship.

See the full programme:

Thursday • 18 September

9:30 p.m. • Cinema · Independência (2015) by Mário Bastos • gnration (free)

Friday • 19 September

6:00 p.m. • Conversas do Paraíso • And after independence? From the struggles for liberation to the struggles of today with Marta Machado, Sheila Khan and Tiago Vieira da Silva, moderated by Marisa Rodrigues (BANTUMEN) • Livraria Centésima Página bookshop (free)
9:30 p.m. • Opera • Adilson, an Opera by Dino D’Santiago • Theatro Circo

Saturday • 20 September

10:30 • Guided Tour • Does the Empire Still Live Here? Memories, marks and paths of decolonisation in Braga with Chisoka Simões • various locations around the city (free)
5:00 p.m. • Conversations from Paradise • Memories at dusk (How many worlds are there in a library, to give birth to the sun?) with Ruben Zacarias and moderated by Rosa Cabecinhas • gnration (free)
9:30 p.m. • Music • Banda Monte Cara • gnration
10:30 p.m. • Music • Fidju Kitxora • gnration

[Posted: 08-09-2025]