"For you, Portugal, I swear!" - A story to be told on the big screen

It is time to take this story about Portugal’s colonial past to a larger audience. 

Over the last eighteen months, DIVERGENTE has published “For you, Portugal, I swear!”. The report tells the stories of the Portuguese Guinean African Commandos, the only elite troop in the history of the Portuguese army comprised entirely of African soldiers. People who, after 25 April 1974, were abandoned and left behind. Today, they are still fighting for the rights promised to them on the battlefield. 

We want to tell this little-known episode in Portugal’s history to as many people as possible. In the three visits we made to Guinea-Bissau, we gathered nearly 40 hours of recordings. We have multiple interviews and a plethora of archive material that never made it into the multimedia report. 

After being published on DIVERGENTE’s website, “For you, Portugal, I swear!” won seven journalism prizes in Portugal and abroad, and was shown in a number of public events, conferences and workshops. It is time to take this story about Portugal’s colonial past to a larger audience. 

The film will be written and directed by Sofia da Palma Rodrigues and Diogo Cardoso, the DIVERGENTE journalists who embarked on the multimedia report and who have been studying the topic for the last seven years.

We want this documentary to be shown in cinemas, televisions, streaming platforms and schools. If, like us, you believe that this story would make a good film, support our crowdfunding campaign.

About the author

Created in 2014, DIVERGENTE is a digital magazine dedicated to portraying subjects of public interest that tend to be underrepresented in the media. It seeks to amplify the voices of those who are seldom heard and sees journalism as a tool for scrutinizing power structures, that can promote action within the population. DIVERGENTE is a non-profit organization and accepts no money for advertising.

DIVERGENTE has already produced a number of documentaries and multimedia reports, such as “Hidden away, these women also made the Revolution”, “Too young to be old”, “Land of plenty, land of but a few” or “Zé wants to know why”. These are freely available at https://divergente.pt/en/.

Budget and due dates

The archival research, filming and production of the documentary “For you, Portugal, I swear!” took place between 2016 to 2021 in Guinea Bissau and Portugal. 

To complete this film (editing and post-production) we need 91,071 euros. Over the last few years, we have applied for various grants and made contacts to make this project a reality. Right now, including the partnerships and support listed below, we are, at least, 5000 euros short of covering the costs of editing and colour-grading. Can we count on you?

RTP | 12,200 euros for archive access and image licensing;

Investment from the DIVERGENTE team | 35,450 euros for production and research, material loan, initial editing, translation and subtitling in English and Portuguese [a large part of the film is in Creole]; 

Instituto de Cinema e Audiovisual (ICA) | 39,051 euros for original soundtrack, sound editing and sound and image post-production, executive production [we are awaiting the results of the tender];

Crowdfunding | 5000 euros for final editing and colour-grading;

Visual and sound editing and post-production will be completed throughout 2023. Between the end of 2023 and September 2024 “For you, Portugal, I swear!” will be screened at Portugal-wide and international documentary cinema festivals and be shown at cinemas. The documentary is also set to be shown on RTP (Portuguese national television) in October 2024.

Images

Documents

• Caderno de apresentação do documentário "Por ti, Portugal, eu juro!"

  pdf • 6.85 MB