Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses the making of a film with Bororo people. Taking filmmaking as a distinctive form of insertion in the field, it discusses how the process led Bororo people to inquire about the boundaries between ‘reality’ and ‘fiction’ and the ethical implications of filmmaking in their villages.

Paper long abstract:

During my fieldwork in Bororo villages I noticed the enduring relevance of a classical theme in Bororo ethnography: moiety exogamy. Despite contemporary tolerance to feelings of 'love' as the main motivator to intra-moiety marriage alliances, the classical taboo prohibiting intra-moiety marriage still deeply affects people's lives. This paper analyses my attempt to use filmmaking as a means to explore this issue ethnographically. With this purpose, I invited two young women to travel to another village in search of a potential partner from the 'appropriate' clan and moiety. As the filmmaking process started it was necessary to make it clear that the film was a 'fiction' film (it was important to stress that the girls were not actually chasing a husband to get married). The 'artists' also wanted to warn the whole village that the film was 'fiction': 'just like a soap opera'. Many Bororo people got involved in the film. Placing the film as 'fiction' opened an interesting space for dialogue between participants. It also raised practical problems related to how some of the Bororo wanted to portray marriage. They suggested a film about marriage as 'it was before' to serve as a model for future generations. For the film's sake, however, portraying marriage as 'it was before' was not a good idea (it would need good actors, rehearsals, appropriate artifacts and costumes, etc.). This paper uses the ethnographic dialogue initiated through this filmmaking process to discuss conceptions of 'reality' and 'fiction' in relation to ethical dilemmas in anthropological filmmaking.