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- Convenors:
-
Humberto Martins
(CRIA-UMinho)
Peter Anton Zoettl (CEI-IUL, Portugal)
Paulo Raposo (ISCTE-IUL)
Sofia Sampaio (CRIA, ISCTE-IUL)
- Formats:
- Workshops
- Location:
- Tower B, Piso 1, Aud. 1
- Start time:
- 18 April, 2011 at
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
- Session slots:
- 9
Short Abstract:
The film screening intends to be a forum for debate for those who are interested in visual representations of anthropological/ethnological knowledge. Films should show an original approach to the problem of representing the 'Other', and reflect on the different ways images can be employed in mediating ethnographic realities of different people, and the way they make places, spaces, identities.
Long Abstract:
The film screening intends to be a forum for debate for those who are interested in visual representations of anthropological/ethnological knowledge, independent of particular subjects and forms. We are looking forward to receive recent productions, and priority will be given to directors who plan to attend the screening, to allow for an effective exchange of ideas. Films do not have to follow 'anthropological' conventions, but should show an original approach to the problem of representing the 'Other', and reflect on the different ways images can be employed in mediating ethnographic realities of different people, and the way they make places, spaces, identities.
Please propose your film via the 'Propose a paper' link below, providing a short and long abstract/description of your film. In the long abstract of your proposal, please also provide the following info: Original film title; English film title; Country and year; Duration; Director(s); Researcher(s); Production Company; Format of screening copy.
Films should have English or French subtitles. Work-in-progress will only be considered if the preview DVD gives an sufficient idea of the probable final outcome.
Please indicate if you plan to attend the screening of your film in case it will be selected.
Please send a clearly marked preview DVD to: SIEFF 2011 "Film Screening", CRIA, Av. Forças Armadas, Ed. ISCTE - sala 2n7, cacifo 237, 1649-026 Lisboa, PORTUGAL.
Please include a completed, signed form which you can download from:
http://www.nomadit.co.uk/sief/sief2011/downloads/filmform.doc
Deadline for submissions: 30.11.2010
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
Since the 1960ies Sudanese craftsmen modify the English Bedford-Lorry. Following closely the daily work, art and history of truck-rebuilding on the Nile, a fascinating way of African creativity dealing with global commodities is opened up.
Paper long abstract:
A film about mobility, human creativity, and technology in a Sudanese truck community. The English Bedford-Lorry was introduced to Sudan in the late 1960ies. Since then, local craftsmen technically modify the truck into an ideal vehicle, adequate for traveling off-road and for performing customers' expectations. The craftsmen and drivers call the lorry "Sifinja" because it is soft and comfortable like the plastic slippers it is named after. In different places in Sudan the carpenters and blacksmiths not only create a shiny iron bride, but they change the whole structure of the lorry through a highly unorthodox performance. Following closely the daily work, art and history of truck-modding on the Nile, a fascinating way of African creativity dealing with global commodities - the automobiles - is opened up. The documentary weaves the original sound of hammering and sawing, drilling and riveting, into a rhythmic, exhilarating audio-visual adventure.
Paper short abstract:
Through the camera two streetboys give insight into their everyday life on the streets of Nairobi.
Paper long abstract:
Anthony and Robert -youngsters from Nairobi - give insight into their everyday life. With a film camera they document and comment the life on the streets and in the Halfway Centre. Thereby, not only their trials and tribulations are expressed but also their sense of humour and their plans for the future, which are full of hope: Moving images which convince through their authenticity. By handing over the camera to the two protagonists, a dynamic change of perspectives is established. This renders possible a differentiated examination of the subject matter as well as the proceedings of the film.
Paper short abstract:
Filmed at Denmark's largest institution for mentally disabled adults, this film explores how educators and residents relate to each other through the institution’s experimental pedagogical initiatives.
Paper long abstract:
White Sunshine Weather (Hvid Solskinsvejr, Denmark 2010) is a 29 min ethnographic documentary, which explores the relations between educators and mentally disabled seniors. The film focuses on miniature details and everyday life processes through which it raises questions of anthropological interest. By showing interactions and pedagogical initiatives, the film explores how 'the other' is constructed in interaction. The senses play a crucial role in how everyday life is lived and how the educators work with the disabled seniors - and the images of the film capture the tactility of this very relationship.
Paper short abstract:
Aveleda, a far-flung village of Trás-os-Montes, is slowly loosing its inhabitants. But when the winter solstice arrives, the bachelors that live and work in the nearest city, Bragança, but also in Porto, in Lisbon, and abroad, return. They come to celebrate the village and their ancestors, perpetuating the initiation rite: the Festa dos Rapazes (Festival of the Boys).
Paper long abstract:
The Festival of the Boys is an ancestral Portuguese pagan ritual, marking the passage into manhood, which still exists in the little village of Aveleda, in the rural region of Tras os Montes. Young men guide a teenager into manhood through numerous rituals, spread out over November and December.
The first ritual consists of chopping wood in the forest. This is a test of his strength. The wood is then sold in the square to pay for the festival. Another ritual consists of leading the youngster in a circle around the village at night, in noisy proclamation of the forthcoming festival. The young men and the teenager must also live isolated in a small stone house outside the village for a week. It's a time where anything goes, where alcohol flows freely. And at the end of December, all these young men disguise themselves as devils and come out to roam the square, scaring everyone away and swatting at the girls with a dried, inflated pig stomach.
Aside from the strangeness of these rituals and the isolated geographical situation of the village, there is a fascinating aspect to this festival, all the more so because each year the festival is threatened: more and more people are leaving the village. The few young boys left in Aveleda still doggedly carry out the festival, but the necessary conditions, it's symbolism, the perpetuation of the community, seem to no longer exist. There is something fragile and moving about this rite of passage.
Paper short abstract:
Festa, Trabalho e Pão em Grijó de Parada was directed by Manuel Costa e Silva in the year of 1973. This work consists in a revisitation to this film, exploring the impact in the community where it was performed.
Paper long abstract:
Festa, Trabalho e Pão em Grijó de Parada was directed by Manuel Costa e Silva in the year of 1973. This work consists in a revisitation to this film, exploring the impact in the community where it was performed. Throughout its observation, the habitants look to themselves and the changes that occurred since then, leading them to a different time and reality where they used to live. "Festa, Filme e Identidade em Grijó de Parada" rises questions about Memory, Change and the Film as an identitary object.
Paper short abstract:
A film about one man's journey across northern India and his search for enlightenment.
Paper long abstract:
Rajive McMullen, a history teacher makes the difficult and painful journey into the heart of Tantra, searching for meaning in holy shrines, coming close to death in cremation grounds and enjoying the chaos of the Aghori seekers.
My work is concerned with exploring our relationship with birth and death, with ethnographic speciality in India.
Our hope is to go beyond the limits of our historical perspective on childbirth and death and their culturally bound rites, and to demonstrate an emotionally connected knowledge which can contribute to the debate on how we give birth and die.
Paper short abstract:
On the basis of a social anthropological case study, this film documents the birth practices of the Bunong in Mondulkiri province, located in the northeast of Cambodia.
Paper long abstract:
On the basis of a social anthropological case study, this film documents the birth practices of the Bunong in Mondulkiri province, located in the northeast of Cambodia. Social, economic, and political changes are transforming the province tremendously and are affecting villagers' beliefs, perceptions and habits regarding pregnancy, delivery and early motherhood. Traditional midwives, pregnant women, mothers and their families give a personal insight into their present decision-making strategies, which are at the crossroads between tradition and modernity.
Paper short abstract:
This 15 minute film, made with the participation of residents of Fadiya Chok, Dhal ni Pol, was shot on a single day using a single take. A small doorway decorated with ceramic flowers becomes the catalyst for a series of playful yet intimate encounters.
Paper long abstract:
A small doorway decorated with ceramic flowers becomes the catalyst for a series of playful yet intimate encounters. Through the doorway we witness the aesthetics of daily life in this part of Ahmedebad's old city: a mother gently oiling the hair of the child, a group of children spontaneously breaking into a garba, a trademark cycle decorated with garlands.
Entry was made as part of a three year initiative to establish a model of interaction between artists, environmentalists, cultural and heritage activists and communities to raise awareness and sustain and develop communities in the old city of Ahmedabad.
The initiative was piloted in its first phase in Dhal ni Pol by artists Steve Dixon, CJ O'Neill and Amanda Ravetz, together with Lokesh Ghai and Palak Chitaliya.
The pilot had financial support from Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design (MIRIAD) and the British Council Connection through Culture initiative and AIAF. www.thepolproject.blogspot.com
Paper short abstract:
Country Clubs in Argentina are gated communities where the rich people live, protected by private security firms. The opposite of those clubs are the slums on the outskirts of the cities. This film shows the country club world and the inner-struggle of those who were born into a privileged position.
Paper long abstract:
Country Clubs or 'Countries' are gated communities on the outskirts of Argentina's cities. Under the watchful eye of the private security firms hired to protect them, the clubs act as an oasis of calm for the Argentine rich. In such an environment people in the 'Countries' enjoy an apparently idyllic, safe existence surrounded by tennis courts, football fields, golf courses, polo pitches, shopping facilities and sometimes even private schools. Yet this film shows the dilemma and the inner-struggle of those who were born into a privileged position in a state that fails to provide social amenities, justice or peace for the majority of its people.
Paper short abstract:
This film documents the creative process of the theatre performance ‘Guerreiras’ developed primarily from the experiences of a theatre research group with the women of Tejucupapo, situated at the northern area of the state of Pernambuco-Brazil. This process called artetnographical by the researcher.
Paper long abstract:
Between 1630 and 1654, during the period of the Dutch occupation in North-eastern Brazil, particularly in Tejucupapo, at the city of Goiana, the episode known as 'the battle of Tejucupapo' took place. The battle is considered the first combat with feminine participation registered in Brazil.
Since 1993, in the same marginal locality, this historical struggle is being restored by the epic staging of 'A Batalha das Heroínas' (The Battle of the Heroines), performed thanks to the initiative of a community leader and the participation of the district's residents, among which fisherwomen, housewives and public employees.
The research here presented started in 2007, with the aim of uncovering the images and experiences exchanged by the artists-investigators (under the orientation of the researcher) and the women-actresses from Tejucupapo, in a way of understanding how this network of memories and signification have come together in the performance of 'Guerreiras'(Warriors).
The film which was produced through this 'Artethnography' is constructed like a kaleidoscope of fragments braided through: stories from the Tejucupapo women, stories of goddesses and warriors of all times, and the artist's personal stories, revealing a triple plan of actions: historical, mythical and personal.
Paper short abstract:
A film about how I saw Paris upon my return of seven years of life with the Ovahimba of Namibia and Angola, the city, everyday life in the city, human rights...
Paper long abstract:
In this film, I depict how I saw Paris upon my return from a seven-year sojourn with the Ovahimba of Namibia.
To the amazement and the disarray of such a return, was added the death of three close friends, Jean Rouch, mentor and friend, Didier Contant, grand reporter and soul mate, the Headman of Etanga, who had become the father of my life.
I renew ties with Paris, my homes town ever since leaving South Africa for exile in 1984, by returning to familiar places, of which places visited with Jean Rouch, as well as discovering spots hitherto unknown to me.
The necessary redressing of the honor of the journalist Didier Contant, who died in Paris before he could publish his investigation into the death of the Tibhirine Monks in Algeria in 1996, deeply marked this period. I trace the arduous evolution of this process that lead me to publish the book, "Le huitième mort de Tibhirine", and to visit for the first time North Africa - Algiers and the Monastery of Tibhirine in Medea.
During this time, returning and mourning were inextricably entangled. My Ovahimba friends were constantly on my mind, as I was editing the films about my stay with them. Between periods of editing, I traveled to Algiers, Cape Town and Etanga (Namibia), filming all the while.
One morning overlooking the Bay of Algiers, I imagined an axis linking Paris, Cape Town, Etanga and North Africa, and hence the great circle of exile that started in 1984 was finally closed.
Paper short abstract:
The Other Side is a short film by Mukhtar Shehata and Samuli Schielke about class boundaries and the gaze towards the other side whereby people search to cross the lines that separate them.
Paper long abstract:
Shot on location in the district of Al-Mandara in Alexandria, The Other Side is set at two boundaries that mark the lives and expectations of the inhabitants of the area. One is the Abu Qir railway line that runs parallel to the coastline, separating a wealthy neighbourhood at the seafront from a poor, informal area on the inland side. The other boundary is the Mediterranean sea, which separates North Africa and the Middle East from wealthy Europe.
The hero, a man with an extremist appearance from the poor side of the railroad, finds the railroad as impenetrable as the walls of Berlin and Palestine. But if his course of action seems violent at first, it soon takes a different turn. Standing at the railroad, he faces the impossibility of a love across social classes. Having finally crossed one wall under suspicious circumstances, he finds himself facing new walls. Gazing across the sea, he wonders whether there may be someone like him at the opposite shore, also longing for the other side.
Paper short abstract:
The film “O Compasso” is a central output of the research project POCI/SOC/58668/2004 “Transformações sociais numa colectividade local do Noroeste Português”, financed by the Foundation for Science and Technology/Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education and coordinated by José Madureira Pinto, of the Institute of Sociology/University of Porto. The research consisted of a sociological revisit of a local community in Northwest Portugal that was first studied around thirty years ago.
Paper long abstract:
Thirty years after a pioneer study conducted by young sociologists concerned with the scientificity of their approach and with the ethical implications of the relation established between researchers and the studied communities, the same sociologists return to Fonte Arcada, a small parish in Northwest Portugal, leading a renewed and enlarged team, in order to put forward an ambitious sociological revisit, which tries to create, in fact, a small laboratory where the social transformations that the country has experienced in the last thirty years can be analised.
The camera, the recorder, and the eye of a small film crew were invited to follow and somehow reflect on the research process and the research project as as a whole as it went on. Fonte Arcada was the stage and O COMPASSO intends to be the visual trail of an encounter and of the subsequent confrontation of different points of view - the one proposed by the sociologists, the one proposed by the film makers and the one proposed by the members of the studied community. But also of the overlapping movements of these different images.