Africa-Press – Cape verde. The city of Mindelo hosted the preview of the documentary about the drum queens of the São Vicente Carnival, “Estrela de Rainha” (Queen’s Star), which also portrays Cape Verdean society, affirmed the creative director, Éder Xavier.
In a presentation for the protagonists, family members, and guests, Unitel Tmais presented, in the amphitheater of the Faculty of Education and Sport (FaED), the stories of four drum queens from Mindelo.
They are Jéssica Lopes (Samba Tropical), Leidy Silveira (Flores do Mindelo), Andreia Gomes, also known as Brodjinha (Cruzeiros do Norte), and Milla Diogo (Estrela do Mar).
A more intimate approach, as the creative director, Éder Xavier, told the press, which “is usually not the most commercial, but it still inspires.”
“It’s the more human side of what people think, of character, of identity, but above all what represents us as a people,” explained Éder Xavier, for whom Cape Verde has a history “very similar to what is seen in the documentary.”
This is because, in the life stories of the four queens, each portrayed in 20 minutes, one can glimpse, according to the same source, a single-parent society, single mothers, and daughters who grew up without a father.
“Of people who live history from the perspective that they need strength and resilience, but nobody asks them how they woke up today. And what we saw in these queens is more or less that,” he considered.
Éder Xavier said he chose this perspective after almost three months of fieldwork, which showed that the four represented a sample of what the country is like, where the family is usually the pillar, “but something is always missing, and that is usually the father.”
The documentary, he summarized, is a sample of “people who carry both pains and sorrows, but find their escape in Carnival,” he explained.
It also portrays, according to Éder Xavier, the intimate lives of young people with future plans, higher education, and established families, “but whom people don’t see in Carnival.”
And it is for this same reason that Jéssica Lopes said she agreed to participate in the documentary, despite her shyness.
“To show what’s behind the drum queen, because being a drum queen isn’t just about going to rehearsals and parading in Carnival. She has her own life, a daily routine, work, so people have to make allowances, because it’s something extra that we add to our daily lives,” she clarified.
“Not just a piece of meat parading down Rua de Lisboa, but we are people,” Jéssica Lopes added.
A personal and intimate portrait, which Fatinha do Rosário, from Cruzeiros do Norte, said she liked and that moved her. The official premiere of “Estrela de Rainha” takes place on Friday, the 6th, also at FaED, in Mindelo.
This production is included in a series of documentaries that Unitel Tmais intends to broadcast to showcase stories of Cape Verdean life, culture, and tradition.
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