Bissau-Guinean filmmaker Jesualdo Lopes had long been searching for a way to realise his dream of a Black queer-led creative space in his home city of Lisbon when the opportunity finally arose.
While studying at Leeds University in the north of England, Jesualdo – or Jesu – discovered a friend had secured funding to make a short film. The pair realised they could kill two birds with one stone, using the cash to stage the community event they had dreamed of, and filming it as a record.
That gathering, ‘The Market’, helped fill a sorely-felt gap in Lisbon’s creative scene, despite ongoing pandemic-related restrictions, and the response took Jesu by surprise.
