Paper short abstract:

Can’t wear flip flops is an in-progress autoethnographic film which follows the filmmaker and her partner’s attendance at an online funeral during the Covid pandemic. The service didn’t go to plan; the speed at which technology races ahead is often unforgiving towards grief.

Paper long abstract:

"Can’t wear flip flops" (working title) is an in-progress autoethnographic film which follows the filmmaker and her partner’s attendance at an online funeral during the Covid pandemic. Unbeknown to both at the time, the service didn’t go to plan. Alternating between a screen recording from their perspective and a face-on view of their reactions, the film unfolds as an un-staged and honest attempt to remain connected virtually and uphold traditional mourning practices. On the surface, it offers a light-hearted approach to our often-tabooed confrontation with death, whilst its greater significance points towards the need for close collaboration between service providers and the bereaved in order to best harness digital technologies. After all, the speed at which technology races ahead is often unforgiving towards grief.

I have produced a draft version (5 min link below) or perhaps it is a snippet of the larger project to come. The main chunk (of attendance at the online funeral) was recorded in haste – the event was real. As a result, compromises have been made in terms of sound and the social media opening/closing is an attempt to tie the experience together. But I am not sure if it works so feedback on the narrative would be appreciated. Currently I am conducting ethnographic research on other peoples' experiences of online funerals and I would like to make a larger body of work/longer film to bring other peoples' experiences together of the way digital technologies have changed our relationship with death and grief.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/167Fbp0asCnvAqnbf4Y9jH2VPnFb7HHxv/view?usp=share_link

Paper short abstract:

This work-in-progress is part of a broader PhD project, entitled Visual Ethnography of Housewife's everyday life in Slovenia that dwells into the lives of mothers in Slovenia (and some fathers), who made the decision to stay at home after or sometimes before having children.

Paper long abstract:

This work-in-progress is part of a broader PhD project, entitled Visual Ethnography of Housewife's everyday life in Slovenia that dwells into the lives of mothers in Slovenia (and some fathers), who made the decision to stay at home after or sometimes before having children. In the research, I am interested in the transition from full-time employment to full-time motherhood through understanding housework and motherhood or parenthood as a way of life, through routines, rhythms, organisation of tasks, time structures, division of labor among family members, and the like.

The footage is following a Slovenian family with four children from the southeastern, rural region, where the mother, Mihaela, decided to stay at home and quit her job as a language teacher in primary school after the birth of her first daughter. The birth of her firstborn changed her life, partly because of the medical procedures she underwent after the birth, which she had imagined to be different (more natural), and partly because of her ideals of raising her children herself and not putting them in an institution (kindergarten, school). After her first birth, her ideas for the future changed, and she is homeschooling her children and training to be a doula (childbirth counselor and companion) as well as organising first women’s circles in the region. She is also a strong advocate of home births, which currently have a semi-legal status in Slovenia. Together with her husband Boštjan, Mihaela tries to live in harmony with nature, be more ecological (by using reusable diapers, homemade laundry detergent and the like), sustainable and self-sufficient (by producing her food and saplings). The documentation began in March 2021 after the covid lockdown when her partner Boštjan, who has a permanent job at an electrical company, took paternity leave and stayed home with her for one year until August 2021. Now he is back at work, so the video footage shows the everyday life and time when the whole family was together, and later the time when Mihaela was alone for most of the day. Filming lasted until the spring of 2022, with the possibility of further filming.

The video footage is roughly edited after each filming and includes video sequences from the spring of 2021 to the spring of 2022. Right now it is in the pre-production phase, meaning I am trying to outline a general narrative of the final product - the story of the film. This is where I would like to get feedback on options for editing the film's narrative. The general idea is to frame the project according to the seasons, i.e., shooting four or five sequences divided by seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter, spring) and showing different aspects of family life. At the end, I wanted to shoot a more traditional interview with the couple or the whole family to reflect on the process of filming and to hear their opinions on the subject (homeschooling, being at home and the like). So basically I would like to get feedback on the narrative structure of the film, ideas and ways to best edit this project as the video footage reveals different yet important aspects of family life (division of labor between family members, natural parenting ideals, homeschooling, authority, socialisation techniques, time management, sustainability and self-sufficiency, gender...).

Paper short abstract:

The film accompanies us through the process of getting to know what home means to five Londoners and the director herself. It visits homes abstract and concrete, temporary and permanent, private and public, real and dreamed, while passing from virtual space to reality.

Paper long abstract:

The film tells the story of five Londoners and gradually uncovers in depth what home means to them not only today but throughout their lives. Together with them, I, the director of the film, continuously explore my home as well as throughout the filmmaking process, I question whether to stay or leave London. The entire film is thus a visit to several homes – theirs and mine, abstract and concrete, temporary and permanent, real and dreamed, private and public. Each character is in a different situation, yet they are all at home in London. Jamaican Andre, British Caroline, Russian Zinovy, French Emilie, Irish-Ukrainian Maria. The film accompanies us through the process of getting to know their home and changes its form and narrative style along with how we get closer to them – emotionally and physically. The film and its chosen form reflect not only the pandemic situation, in which the importance of the home has been significantly accentuated, but also views the home as a universal, omnipresent, very personal, and individual theme. It passes from virtual space to reality, from public to inner, from observational documentary to autoethnography. How can one have a home in London?

STAGE: Postproduction (aiming to finish it by Autumn 2023)

FEEDBACK: I would like to get feedback mainly on editing and the narrative structure, however, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

The film is developed as part of a PhD in Film: Practice as Research. The PhD project lies between documentary film and anthropology.