- Convenors:
-
Caterina Sartori
(Goldsmiths (University of London))
Stephen Hughes (Royal Anthropological Institute)
Send message to Convenors
- Discussant:
-
Ricardo Leizaola
(Goldsmiths)
- Format:
- Workshop
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 7 March, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
We welcome proposals from filmmakers who wish to receive feedback on a film work-in-progress at any stage of production. The selected participants will receive feedback from an expert and from their peers in a supportive environment.
Long Abstract:
We welcome proposals from filmmakers who wish receive feedback on a film work-in-progress at any stage of production. The selected participants will get a chance to screen and present their work to an expert: either a filmmaker or an academic drawn from the wide RAI film network who can comment on their work in a generative way. The sessions will be moderated by RAI Film Festival directors Caterina Sartori and Stephen Hughes, and they will be open to the festival audience. We aim to provide a creative and nurturing environment in which filmmakers will benefit from the expertise and sensibility of senior practitioners, scholars and fellow filmmakers. It is an opportunity to receive valuable feedback and encouragement, to think through issues and open questions, and to connect with a network of peers.
Each selected participant will have 30 minutes to present their work and receive comments.
In your proposal please provide:
- a brief summary of your project or a treatment
- information on what stage your project will be at (pre-production, production, post-production)
- an indication of what aspect you would like feedback on (for example but not limited to.: editing, sound design, narrative structure)
- OPTIONAL: a link to a sample of up to 5 minutes of your current project. This can be a trailer or a segment of a longer piece.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Tuesday 7 March, 2023, -Paper short abstract:
Exploring the connections between Indian tribal tales and Celtic stories, the project engages artists and filmmakers. We are particularly looking for ways embedded in traditional tales that can assist us in our contemporary quest to live sustainably on a planet wide scale.
Paper long abstract:
Our world is faced with multiple threats posed by the fierce degradation and destruction of our natural environment. Indigenous traditions across the globe speak of sustainable ways of life and the overall wellbeing that is derived from relationships to nature. Adivasi Arts Trust (www.adivasiartstrust.org) is an organisation that has 15 years of history working to sustain indigenous stories from India using film and animation. ‘Creation’ is our project that is proposed for financial support from Arts Council England in 2023. Exploring the connections between Indian tribal tales and traditional Celtic stories, the project engages artists, volunteers and filmmakers to create three works of art. We are particularly looking for ways embedded in traditional tales that can assist us in our contemporary quest to live sustainably on a planet wide scale.
The project is a comparative study of the themes about humankind’s relationships to the more-than-human world. The proposal is to interview storytellers and to study ancient and contemporary stories from India and from the UK to create a documentary film, a short animated film and a multimedia art installation. The three outputs are interlinked in the way they will explore, interpret and retell the stories. The project will be in the pre-production phase. I would like feedback on the concept and the narrative structure.
Paper short abstract:
Contrary to Jager et al.’s (2017) systematic review which discusses examples of digital storytelling (DST) mainly collected from collaborative practices, this paper investigates the preparation of an interactive DST as a PhD by Practice outcome by an individual practitioner
Paper long abstract:
This PhD focuses on the experiences I have, both personal and artistic, as a native Latvian creative artist and performer in relation to Latvian folk music. This focus is directed through the lens of modern digital technologies (interactive digital storytelling (iDST) as an output) and performance spaces. In so doing, this project aims to interrogate and offer new insights into the recently developing field of folk music. Guided by an autoethnographic methodology, by adding sonic and visual layers upon folk songs, I am exploring, transforming and performing traditional Latvian folk music. In my improvisations, I also include a Latvian traditional folk instrument, the kokle. This research uses innovative and interdisciplinary practice research approaches that bring it into a global digital performance context, questioning national identity’s role from a global perspective.
Being at a pre-production stage, this paper investigates approaches for a successful outcome of an interactive DST.
I would appreciate feedback on the best ways of creating DST interactive in the Performing Arts contrary to the field of Games where it's used more often.
Paper short abstract:
The project aims to devise a transdisciplinary framework across anthropology, architecture, performance and filmmaking that recognises, articulates, and communicates the non-discursive, bodily knowledge embedded in the everyday practice of the dissolved household in contemporary rural China.
Paper long abstract:
With the middle generation missing from more than 80 percent of contemporary rural families in China, these families form indeterminate and resilient assemblages at the edge of capitalist apparatus. The dissolution of families is a survival tactic that contests the hegemony of the essentialised model of the modern nuclear family and its associated domesticity. What has emerged is an intergenerational, interdependent way of living—that is, a ripple effect that undoes the former conception of domesticity. By recognising situated knowledge that is highly contextual, largely non-discursive, and bodily, which has often been overlooked by the paternalistic model of ‘expert’ leadership, this project seeks to carve out a space for its manifestation and distribution.
The project builds on a long-term relationship with the village community in Shigushan, Wuhan since 2015. In this latest phase, a team of an architect, an anthropologist / independent filmmaker and a choreographer, we are completing a collaborative fieldwork in the village (Aug-Nov 2022). The daily activities are improvising, together with the villagers, slightly odd scenarios, in which playing, singing and dancing take place. It is one step out of reality but not yet into fiction. With improvisation, we hope to stimulate the villagers’ own performative expressions, story-telling and imaginations that are otherwise hidden.
We have been grappling with contradictions between the academic mode of conveying articulated messages and the experience-oriented artistic forms of communication in art and cultural forums, such as, immersive video installation and durational performance.
Project website: https://rrr.network/, esp. the section on ‘situated imaginaries’.