Paper short abstract:

The paper discusses theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of film production on intangible cultural heritage for nominations to UNESCO lists. Heritage bearers' views, UNESCO instructions, state interests, and ethics of visual ethnography have been orchestrated as 'dialogical heritage'.

Paper long abstract:

Films that are sent to UNESCO as part of nominations to the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, can be labelled as 'Authorized Heritage Films' as they are officially monitored and approved by a body of politicians and humanistic profiles from the State Parties. The term is derived from 'Authorized Heritage Discourse' by Laurajane Smith (2006), claiming that social meanings, power relations and ideology are embedded in language and reproduced through it. Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage requites: "each State Party shall endeavour to ensure the widest possible participation of communities, groups and individuals that create, maintain and transmit heritage, and to involve them actively in its management" (UNESCO 2003, Article 15). However, the participation of heritage bearers in preparing the text of nomination and the film varies from merely consenting to what was conceived by professionals and politicians to actually cooperating in taking decisions in the process of defining the heritage (the name of nominated element, description, social aspects, data on bearers, safeguarding regimes) and visualising the heritage in nomination film.

A case study reveals a complex process of film production Traditions of Lipizzan Breeding (working title) of eight European countries to the Representative List. Collaborative film production with shared responsibility has been rethought through the concepts of 'dialogical heritage' (Harrison 2013) and 'perspectivism' (Castro de Viveiros 2013).