They were two black men, already in their 60s, walking through the streets of Pequena África (Little Africa, in Portuguese) in downtown Rio de Janeiro. Zózimo Bulbul’s height and dark, shining skin contrasted with Firmo’s lighter black skin and smaller stature. The two men were handsome, they both sported an easy and affable smile, often caustic, and shared an enormous erudition, a taste for music, especially jazz and samba, and an irreducible love for images. Firmo was the director of photography of Pequena África, a short film conceived and directed by Zózimo Bulbul, released in 2002.
In the cast, another sixty-year-old: the actor and film director Waldir Onofre, famous for directing the film As aventuras amorosas de um padeiro (1975). Also in the cast are Douglas Silva, Dadinho from Cidade de Deus, a film also released in 2002 (Zózimo takes the gun from Dadinho’s hand and replaces it with black history), and Flávia Souza da Cruz, actress, singer, producer and founder of the Grupo Afrolaje and Aqualtune (an important collective of black women). Tia Jurema, from Praça Onze, and Mercedes Guimarães, from Instituto Pretos Novos, are also present in the film.
Firmo’s participation in Pequena África breaks with the individual activism that marks his career. For the first time he is part of a collective effort with recognized black militants. In addition to being an actor and director, Zózimo was the creator of the Centro Afro Carioca de Cinema and the Encontro de Cinema Negro Brasil, África, Caribe e Outras Diasporas, in 2007. The Centro Afro Carioca became one of the world references of “black cinema”, a concept that was still emerging at that time.
The rapprochement between the two is an important political gesture on both sides. Firmo has always wanted to make cinema – in some of his interviews he expresses this desire, in others he says that he thinks like a filmmaker, but that photography gave him more freedom. In 2002, both aged over 60, Firmo and Bulbul were exponents of Afro visual culture in the field of photography and cinematography. Which, looking back, means a lot. Politically, the public debate over admission quotas to higher education for the socially disadvantaged was heated and they were beginning to be implemented in institutions such as the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (State University of Rio de Janeiro – Uerj).
In this context, returning to “Pequena África” was unique and remarkable. It meant returning to where it all began for most of us when we arrived on this side of the Atlantic. It was politics. In the opening of the film, we hear “Cordeiro de Nanã”. Right after the opening credits, we see an open shot of the facade of the church of Santana, in Praça Onze (Onze Square). Then come close ups of details. Next, facades of houses in a neighborhood in Praça Onze are shown, where Douglas Silva presents Pequena África and appears talking to Tia Jurema, a former resident of the neighborhood. These are the first cinematographic images of Walter Firmo. The framing, the color, the temporality of the film clearly bear his signature.