Nuno Cassola: Letters From Our Colonial Past

During a research that started in August 2021 I interviewed my family members about their relation with and their memories of the Portuguese dictatorship. I came across several documents that they produced during that period: a village newspaper, theater brochures and more than 300 letters that one of my uncles exchanged with his wife, my aunt, while he was doing military service from 1973 to 1974.

In an attempt to open new perspectives and readings of the material, for this phase of the project, I will be reading all the documents that are in my possession and at the same time will combine them with dramaturgical techniques and tools used by the dramaturgical department at Οnassis Stegi.

"Letters From Our Colonial Past" is a project that attempts to embroider onto a movie personal stories and documents, spaces locked in a family’s memory, as well as how the Portuguese colonial mythology still reverberates and gives meaning to children of the dictatorship.