Film short abstract:

Jimmy is a long-term resident of a social housing estate undergoing redevelopment. While struggling to come to terms with what 'regeneration' means for him, he finds joy in sharing his collections, telling stories of class, place and "still waiting for that future".

Film long abstract:

"50 years ago today they landed on the moon... and I'm still waiting for that future".

Jimmy's Archive is a collaborative short film by anthropologist Robert Deakin and James ('Jimmy') Watters – a lifelong resident of Poplar, a working-class neighbourhood in the former docklands of east London. Rebuilt according to a modernist masterplan after being heavily bombed during the 2nd World War, today Poplar is undergoing another round of intensive redevelopment in the form of ‘urban regeneration’ which will see formerly public housing replaced with mostly private housing for market sale.

Against this backdrop, Jimmy delves into a cupboard of carefully kept artefacts to tell stories of class, place, music and (still) waiting for the future. Recently having retired after 30 years as a London Black Cab driver, Jimmy now spends much of his time at home. But while struggling to come to terms with what 'regeneration' means for him, he finds joy in sharing his collections.

Jimmy's Archive provides an intimate portrait of home, place and ageing in a rapidly changing urban landscape. It also contributes to thinking and practice around collaborative and multi-modal anthropology. While the editing for the film was done by Robert - interspersed by screening and feedback sessions - the ‘on set’ direction was a collaboration, with Jimmy improvising ‘on stage’ and Robert filming with minimal intervention. As Jimmy delves into his collection the narrative unfolds through a combination of human agency and serendipity.

Film short abstract:

In a brief documentary, anthropologist Magdalena Zegarra Chiappori provides a glimpse into the precarious lives of poor older Peruvians whose experiences mirror those of countless elders around the world.

Film long abstract:

La Merced is a deteriorated landscape, a precarious topography. How does one—old, poor, sick, and abandoned by family—grow old amidst emotional deprivation, loneliness, and institutionalization? This documentary is an attempt to elucidate how one of the most invisible, unmapped, and understudied populations of Peruvian society, the elderly urban poor of Lima, come to terms with this process. Growing Old on the Margins tells the story of how elderly residents in the La Merced shelter struggle to hold on to life, render their aging experience meaningful, and, finally, wait for death. At La Merced, destitution, oblivion, and postponement weigh heavily on people’s everyday lives. Uncertainty and a rumbling instability is the dramatic context where those who lack family networks, care, and economic security are endlessly embracing new tactics of endurance and resistance as they grow old. What are the limitations and possibilities of remaining intelligible actors at the end of life in an environment of perpetual loss, destitution, and abandonment? How do people give sense to their last days of existence and endure life in such an inhospitable place? In other words, what sustains these persons in the world? What do they cling to in order to live? Maybe, this short film can offer an answer to these questions because these images speak of the ways the elderly in Lima—and, probably, in other parts of the Global South—grow old enveloped in absence and scarcity, adversity and vulnerability, but also signal a relentless existential struggle for endurance.

Film short abstract:

Cross-border workers from Poland employed in warehouses in Brandenburg, Germany, and the gigafactory producing electric cars near the border, spend 3-5 hours a day commuting. In this film, they talk about their daily commute and its impact on their lives.

Film long abstract:

The film explores the experiences of cross-border workers who commute daily between the regions of Lubuskie in Poland and Brandenburg in Germany. In their narratives, the road emerges as a structuring principle of mobile lives within the “inner peripheries”: both the spatial and temporal logic of everyday life and the affective emphasis within the narratives are centred on travel. Given this focus and the dispersed nature of our field, we adopted a multi-sited and mobile approach, following workers’ routes between places of residence and work. This fieldwork strategy, documented in the film, responded to the limited time of our research participants and allowed us to understand their experiences of everyday mobility better. While the film’s soundtrack aims to amplify marginalised voices, articulating the spatiotemporal dimensions of cross-border labour, the visuals aim to convey the experience of being on the road, creating a point of convergence between researchers and participants.

Film short abstract:

The film shows diverse musical practices of indigenous musicians from the Ecuadorian Andes, emphasising the circulations of people, sounds, ideas and objects and the ways these circulations shape their contemporary practices.

Film long abstract:

Throughout five parts, each of them focusing on one musician or one band of musicians, the film shows diverse musical practices of indigenous musicians from the region of Otavalo, in the Ecuadorian Andes (such as performances in local festivities and on festival stages, recording practices, performances of different genres from different places). It emphasises the circulations of people, sounds, ideas and objects and the ways these circulations shape the contemporary practices of Otavalo indigenous musicians. In this way, several topics that are fundamental in the contemporary everyday life of indigenous people are addressed through image and sound, such as migration, urbanisation, influence/re-appropriation of globalised ideas and objects, the use of technology, the revalorisation and performance of a local ‘culture’.

Many Otavalo indigenous people have migrated to Europe and North America, mainly since the 1980s, to sell their handicrafts and to play Andean music in the streets. They have also depended heavily on tourism in Otavalo town, which is home to an important craft market. In this context of migration and relationship with tourists, the presentation of self as culturally different has been at stake. With this in mind, the film also shows several ways of revalorising ‘traditional’ musical practices and of merging the latter with sounds, genres, ideas and objects from other Latin American regions and the northern hemisphere.

Film short abstract:

A dominant discourse on cervical cancer focuses on access to care, overshadowing other critical issues. I reflect on my experience with the disease, exploring gynecological violence, reductionist explanations, and the politics of blame, while highlighting transformative knowledge through art.

Film long abstract:

A dominant discourse surrounding cervical cancer currently frames it within the context of access to screening and vaccination. Indeed, over 80% of cases occur in countries where access to care is severely limited, if not nonexistent; while in the so-called Global North, the highest incidence rates and most advanced-stage diagnoses disproportionately affect the most vulnerabilized groups.

I argue that this exclusive focus on access to preventive and healthcare services risks diverting attention from other critical issues. Drawing on experimental autoethnography and kaleidoscopic reflexivity (Fortun, 2014), this short film reflects on my personal experience with cervical cancer in a context where such access was secured. I explore issues such as gynaecological violences and micro violences, reductionist causative explanations of the disease, and the politics of blame that can generate or perpetuate suffering among those with a cervix. Additionally, I consider how autoethnographic and artistic practices can contribute to inhabiting alternative social possibilities, fostering knowledge that may be both relevant and transformative.

Film short abstract:

Minding Sand follows the sand mining industry in Sierra Leone and the struggles associated with managing resource extraction. It aims to show the complex entanglements involved in both the making and unmaking of beaches, reminding us how ecological and social concerns are inextricably interwoven.

Film long abstract:

The film Minding Sand follows the sand mining industry on the beaches of Sierra Leone and the struggles associated with managing resource extraction. Sand is a key ingredient in many construction materials, most notably concrete. It’s cheap, abundant, and easy to extract. Despite its critical role, sand is not typically regarded as valuable, seemingly everywhere, and has not received the same attention as other forms of resource extraction.

The mining of sand, combined with melting ice caps, urbanisation, and natural erosion, creates the conjunction that leads to the fast disappearance of beaches. How do miners navigate a city’s demand for concrete while facing an eroding beach?

The film tries to unravel the complex ties and entanglements involved in both the making and unmaking of beaches, reminding us how ecological and social concerns are inextricably interwoven. It shows how miners and fishermen alike are deeply connected to and in constant dialogue with their environment as they strive to protect the future of both the beach and the industry that it provides.

Film short abstract:

Kitchwa midwives from Amupakin centre meet in an early morning Wayusa ceremony. They tell stories and dreams, dance and sing. The film takes a multispecies, sensorial approach, attentive to the rich animacy of the rainforest human lives are entangled with, to illustrate a story of becoming shaman.

Film long abstract:

The Amupakin centre in Ecuador is a community of ten Kitchwa women who practice traditional medicine and midwifery. Their knowledge sees physical and spiritual healing as inseparable and their power is drawn from the more-than-human world of the selva, rainforest. In an early morning Guayusa ceremony, members of a family or community wake up at dawn to sit around the fire and share dreams, events, stories and music. The film tells the story of Mama Maruja and how she was made aware of her shaman powers by a Boa she encountered in the rainforest. Starting from the story of this encounter, the film uses images and sounds to illustrate the importance of more-than-human connections, as the midwives’ knowledge and actions are conferred, determined and limited by the more-than-human animal spirits that Kitchwa live in close proximity to. Land Full of Boa uses a form of sensorial essay-film montage to keep this world of multispecies agency and personhood present while narrating Maruja’s story.

Film short abstract:

The film is a reflexive story of a collaborative film project. It tells about a group of 14- year-old international boys in a Finnish town. It follows their freetime activities; the good times they have together and their social interactions with each other and with the researcher.

Film long abstract:

Temporary labour migration of skilled professionals is increasing in various parts of the world. Often, such expatriates are accompanied by their children but very little is known of their views and experiences. In her ethnographic research project, Korpela investigated the views and experiences of such children and youth in Finland. During her fieldwork, she filmed a group of 14-year-old boys on their free time in a Finnish town. The film is a reflexive story of this collaborative film project. The film tells about the boys’ freetime activities; the good times they have together and their social interactions with each other and with the researcher. The film also shows the boys’ reflections on their lives and experiences as “foreigners” in a Finnish town.