Documentary, truth and memory: the occupation of time in Dreams of a Revolution (Pedro Neves, 2023)

Authors

  • Tiago Vieira da Silva ESAP, Centro de Estudos Arnaldo Araújo | UMinho, Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1917-7642

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14195/2183-8925_44_17

Keywords:

cinema, documentary, truth, colonialism, memory

Abstract

How can cinema actively participate in the disputes over memory? Focusing on the short film Dreams of a Revolution (2023), directed by Pedro Neves, we propose to think about cinema and, more specifically, documentary, as a vehicle for (counter)discourses about reality. Through the novels The Tuner of Silences (2022) by Mia Couto and O Museu da Revolução (2021) by João Paulo Borges Coelho, Pedro Neves questions the weight of Portuguese colonialism in the present, highlighting the role of filmic language in this process. From the discussion on the categorization of documentary as a genre, this article illuminates the complexity of this exercise in light of the relationship between cinema and truth throughout History, particularly focusing on the national context. Finally, the analysis of Dreams of a Revolution re-updates this discussion, highlighting the role of cinema (more specifically, of documentary) in the critical interpellation of collective memory.

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Published

2026-05-19

Issue

Vol. 44 (2026): Migration and migrants

Section

Varia

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Tiago Vieira da Silva

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows sharing the work with recognition of authorship and initial publication in Antropologia Portuguesa journal.