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Paper short abstract

Based on a visual multispecies ethnography conducted on Mexico’s Pacific coast, I explore qualities of analogue film suited for representing the sensory aspects of multispecies encounters in a lagoon, as well as the effect of using 16mm film on the collaborative filmmaking process I employed.

Paper long abstract

Based on a visual multispecies ethnography conducted on Mexico’s Pacific coast, this paper explores how I use 16mm film to investigate human and more-than-human entanglements. I propose that analogue film possesses qualities particularly suited for representing the sensory aspects of multispecies encounters. The Chacahua-Pastoría lagoons, one of Mexico’s oldest national parks, are home to Afro-Mexican and Indigenous communities who increasingly face ecological threats to their environment. Over the course of eight months, I used collaborative filmmaking and multispecies ethnography to represent human and more-than-human relationships in the lagoon. In this paper I discuss (and show) how I am employing both 16 mm film and digital footage to illustrate worlds that come together among contradictions and difficult negotiations, the pluriverse proposed by Marisol de la Cadena and Mario Blaser. The Chacahua pluriverse encompasses conservation and monitoring activities informed by living on national park territory and grounded in biological knowledge, and being tonal, sharing life with an animal - fate, abilities and death common to the human and more-than-human partners of a life-long bond. I discuss how attributes of 16mm film such as texture and colour highlight sensoriality and become useful for imagining the tonal connection. Furthermore, I reflect on how the pace of working with a 16mm camera, which demands time for planning, adjusting, and focusing, along with the deferred visibility of its outcomes, shaped the collaborative filmmaking process. This slower approach encouraged pre-shoot discussion and preparation while fostering openness to accidents and a lack of complete control over the images.