In recent years, multiple and varied manifestations – theoretical, philosophical, aesthetic, economic, social and cultural – have witnessed the emergence of a “desire for the future”, the common denominator of which is an expressed desire to conceptualise new identity formulations, generate alternative imaginaries and construct narratives that stand out for the rupture they intend to institute with the models that were configured in the post-independence period and seem exhausted and incapable of responding to the new contemporary realities.

There are countless historical factors that can help to understand these new identity aspirations (the failure of ideological options, the impact of globalisation, profound technological changes, demographic and generational changes, etc. ) but what is perhaps important to note here is that, regardless of the various possible analytical approaches, the continent is today confronted with a pulse in which, from fashion to technologies, from literature to design, from architecture to entrepreneurship, from music to the visual arts, to name but a few examples, there is clearly a vibrant “return to the future”, that is, an unequivocal and innovative will to go beyond existing conventions and construct narratives in which the “future” is called upon as a powerful tool for generating alternative conceptual scenarios and affirming new identity dynamics.

The diverse and multifaceted aesthetic, cultural and artistic manifestations that have emerged, for example, in the context of “Afrofuturism” – despite the conceptual imprecision of this “movement” – are striking in the way they express this “desire for the future” and the reconfiguration of identity through the construction of new narratives.

But they also translate, to some extent, what Cameroonian thinker Achille Mbembe has been advocating on another level about the need for Africa to enter the “global conversation” – based on a redefinition of premises and concepts capable of thinking about and articulating the continent’s “future” – and show how this “return to the future” has become strategic for the reformulation of the “present”.

It is in this context that the MFF 2018 programme aims to situate itself. Its aim is to help ensure that the production of these “new narratives” – regardless of where they come from (visual arts, design, architecture, technology, literature, etc.) – is stimulated, exhibited and publicly debated so that, in Mozambique too, the creative exercise that “thinking about the future” calls for is operatively reflected in the reformulation of the present.

As is the norm for the MFF project, this “creative exercise” will be carried out simultaneously from a perspective of “openness to the world”, i.e. within a framework of exchange and dialogue between the players in the Mozambican creative community and the global creative community, and, on the other hand, from the perspective of crossing knowledge and experience between the various creative disciplines and areas involved.

As is the norm for the MFF project, this “creative exercise” will be carried out simultaneously from a perspective of “openness to the world”, i.e. within a framework of exchange and dialogue between the players in the Mozambican creative community and the global creative community and, on the other hand, from the perspective of crossing knowledge and experience between the various disciplines and creative areas involved.

As is the norm for the MFF project, this “creative exercise” will be carried out simultaneously from a perspective of “openness to the world”, i.e. within a framework of exchanges and dialogue between the players in the Mozambican creative community and the global creative community, and also with a view to cross-referencing knowledge and experiences between the various disciplines and creative areas involved.