Paper short abstract:

A short collection of documentary films about tourism by Joram ten Brink (Univ. of Westminster) 'Trans-Siberian Express'; Adam C. Snow (Univ. of Westminster) 'Scouting Quartzsite Arizona'; and Ruth Somalo (Horns&Tails Productions) 'When I travel: Attempting an international mobility biography'.

Paper long abstract:

Joram ten Brink (Univ. of Westminster)

Trans-Siberian Express

(2006, 18mins.)

This film about a journey between Moscow and Beijing is an experimental essay mirroring the journey's changes through space and time. Memory, real time and dreams all find their own space during a train journey. The film also includes scenes from the places the train was travelling through and the cities of Moscow, Novosibirsk, Akademgorodok and Beijing. The main 'themes' are city and the countryside; the changing nature of economics, politics and history; the medium of film itself as a reflection of our experiences as tourists and travellers. The film features the Australian performance artist Alan Schacher and the electronic sound score is produced by the band BARBED.

Adam Christopher Snow (Univ. of Westminster)

Scouting Quartzsite Arizona

(2007, 12mins)

This film is an essay about methods and methodology in visual anthropology as well as in the ethnographic process. Essentially it is about failed attempts and how one should not go about mapping the field too tightly. Autobiographically, it explores the issue of the subject as both tourist and potential ethnographic filmmaker.

Ruth Somalo (Horns&Tails Productions)

When I travel: Attempting an international mobility biography

(2007, approx. 10mins)

The burgeoning interest in matters of reflexivity has grown out of a critique of the detached and distant writings which resulted from what has been termed the 'disembodied intellect'. Reflexivity can be regarded as the act of making oneself the object of one's own observation, in an attempt to bring to the fore the assumptions embedded in our perspectives and descriptions of the world. This film is a biographical approach to the people, places and processes I met on recent trips. Some of the issues explored are: Motivation, travelling as a part of life, as a part of my identity; Tourism as a journey; Am I a traveller or a tourist? Social impacts, the tensions between my impact on the places I visit and their impact on me; Contact with locals, learning and hospitality.