Cinema & Território

Preface | C&T Management

2024-11-14T15:30:25+00:00

The relationship between memory and place in women's cinema

2024-07-11T17:34:00+01:00

The contemporary art that we make establishes a very close relationship between memory and place, intertwined in its cinematographic aspect with the making of the image. This relationship has always been present in our work, and coincides with the objectuality of the materials and forms that we apprehend through different techniques, particularly photography, which reveals the possibility of the image taking off from the work, travelling through the space of reality in an erratic and nomadic way, and in particular cinema as an art of time and which works on time, revealing new possibilities in the making of the image, and in the artistic becoming of the image in our cinema. We will interrogate this concept of image-making, starting with the films The Earth as Event I and The Earth as Event II. The crisis of aesthetic genres, the loss of specificity of media, and the transmorphic power of art all come to a head through the image and its modes of production, which thus becomes an access route for understanding the experimental forms of contemporary art. This research into the relationship between memory and place in cinema will allow us to grasp the artistic strategy that guides [...].

Women and the masculine universes of cinema: from director Shepitko to Nadezhda's protagonism

2024-07-12T11:36:20+01:00

This article seeks to highlight the work of Ukrainian-born Russian director Larisa Shepitko (1938-1979) through her three full-length films, Wings (1966), You and Me (1971) and Ascent (1977), made before her untimely death in 1979. By analysing these works, we will try to highlight the central and unique role of the filmmaker as a woman in dealing with themes such as war, giving them a human rather than ideological look. At the same time, we will realise that personal and artistic expression can contradict and go beyond what the gender stereotype establishes. This is evident in the protagonist of Wings (1966), a former pilot and heroine of the Second World War, who is looking for another path for her life in middle age. The analysis is made with the help of authors Edgar Morin, Anais Nin, Judith Butler, Simone Weil and Lígia Amândio, who bring us closer not only to Shepitko's themes but also to the approach to the feminist question in a broad sense.

Observation and thought: montages by women in contemporary Brazilian documentaries

2024-07-10T11:57:49+01:00

The overthrow of Dilma Rousseff has led to an unusual number of films being made. A considerable number of these were directed and edited by women - Karen Akerman (Maria Ramos' O Processo, 2017), Karen Harley (Petra Costa's Democracia em Vertigem, 2019), Vânia Debs and Anna Muylaert (in Muylaert and Politi's Alvorada, 2020) and Paula Fabiana (2016) who also directed Filme Manifesto. We will analyse the predominant editing operations in these films, observing their specificities and stylistic traits. O processo creates the sensation of exhaustive observation and the punctual contrast with the surroundings of the congress; Democracia em Vertigem uses a non-linear montage marked by ellipses motivated by the director's memories and the anti-democratic plot, in a complex articulation of images and sounds aimed at engagement and the creation of meaning in the manner of the Soviets; Alvorada looks at the daily life of Dilma's residence in a narrative line that progressively emphasizes the president's ouster); Filme Manifesto articulates, in a linear way, the demonstrations up until Dilma's ouster, contrasting them and situating them using archive material. We will also look at the film Sementes - mulheres pretas no poder (Seeds - black women in power) by Éthel Oliveira [...].

« Aqui não é o céu do Bié » the allegorical representation of the Angolan liberation struggle and civil war in the film “Na Cidade Vazia” by Maria João Ganga

2024-07-12T11:23:46+01:00

With its debut in 2004, on the cusp of a turning point in Angolan cinema, the film Hollow City (Na Cidade Vazia, 2004) by Maria João Ganga recounts the story of N’dala, an eleven-year-old who, in 1991, lands in Luanda upon fleeing the civil war that had victimized his family in Bié. In the capital, N’dala befriends Zé –a young boy who stars in a school play as Ngunga, the hero of the Peptela’s celebrated literary debut. Wandering through the streets of Luanda, N’dala personifies the pain of loss and of forced displacement caused by the internal conflict, evoking, simultaneously and through his similarities with Ngunga, the extended and long-lasting effects of colonialism and of the struggle for the independence of the territory. The aforementioned historical events, allegorically depicted on the screen of what was the first feature film directed by an Angolan woman, become objects of analysis which not only reflect the experience of mourning, but also a communal sense that can burgeon through the collective trauma of war(s). In this context, the female experience – that comes to life and is realized on screen by the women who participate in the narrative – assumes particular prominence.

The Commitment of Women Through the Production of a Creative Documentary about Indochina

2024-07-23T14:50:30+01:00

The documentary La belle d’occident, en quête de l’Indochine d’hier et d’aujourd’hui (2023, 47’) discusses the place and investment of women in research and in the way that they see others, whether from an anthropological, artistic (particularly cinematographic), literary, gendered, post-colonial (i.e. historical) or involved point of view. The starting point for this research is the novel The western nice woman, by Mrs Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa written in 1927, a love story between a French woman and a Vietnamese man. This novel is based on a true story that praises the place of women and denounces certain colonial behaviours. Thi Phuong Ngoc Nguyen, a teacher-researcher at Aix-Marseille University, translated the novel in 2021, so that it could be used in the field to find clues about the customs of the period in relation to the soldiers involved. A teacher-researcher also at the University of Aix-Marseille, and as a documentary filmmaker, I accompanied her to Alsace and Verdun in France, and Vietnam, to make this documentary about this adventure and capture current realities while, at the same time, searching for traces of the colonial era. It takes now the form of a creative documentary. [...]

Sound for Cinema in the Feminine: The Lack of Professional Recognition

2024-07-10T20:32:24+01:00

The sound department continues to be one of the most underrated and undervalued in the film industry. Due to its importance and the dimension it brings to each cinematographic work, it was decided to carry out a study on the recognition of professionals in the field. In this research, the winning films of a 20 years’ timeline (2002-2022) in categories linked to best sound design were analyzed, both from significant film festivals (e.g. Cannes Festival) and at equally renowned award ceremonies (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, European Film Awards). Upon completing the data collection, we noticed something particularly significant: for 20 years, in twelve festivals and two renowned award ceremonies, there were 116 winners for their sound work and only 7 are women. For this reason, we decided to carry out an additional study of the presence of women in sound design for cinema, in order to better understand the reason for this huge disparity in their appreciation and recognition. Therefore, we aim to make the data collected in this investigation available and draw attention to the inequality of recognition that exists among cinema sound professionals. This research also aims to improve understanding of the importance [...].

The ivory damsel is bored: changing female dynamics for the Ovidian Galatea in Michelangelo Antonioni’s "Identificazione di una Donna" (1982)

2024-07-10T11:59:00+01:00

The Pygmalion myth as told by Ovid gave rise to a literary tradition that cinema sought to eternalize in films such as Pygmalion et Galathée (Méliès, 1898), Funny Face (Donen, 1957), etc. In these, normally the female is submissive to the male. The same premise may also be indirectly found in Antonioni’s Identificazione di una Donna (1982), but under a different concoction. Instead of adopting a submissive stance towards Niccolò, Mavi, the ad hoc Galatea, is seen as a passive character in the way that she does behave uninterested towards loving Niccolò, the Pygmalion figure. This poise is characteristic of the typical ennui that permeates female characters in Antonioni’s films. This paper attempts to intersect the dramatis personae of the Ovidian myth with characters Niccolò and Mavi from Antonioni’s film and provide further analysis on the possibility of Mavi becoming a powerhouse for the liberation of the ivory damsel in contemporary narratives. Whilst conditioned to a specific environment of Antiquity, Ovid’s ivory jeune is set to behave according to what is expected of her — a voiceless extension of Pygmalion. Conversely, when exposed to contemporary metaliterary media, the ivory damsel can set free and rebel against a dominant male taxonomy.

The outsourcing of motherhood based on the cinematic representation of the domestic worker: Views and constructive paths in ‘What Time Does She Come Back?’

2024-07-11T16:38:40+01:00

This article promotes reflections on the representation of domestic workers as recorded in one of the most prominent films in contemporary Brazilian cinema. The research focuses on the film analysis of the work Que horas ela volta? (2015), by directora Anna Muylaert. This analytical path will question the liquidity of maternal affection, the process of outsourcing motherhood, the black population that provides domestic work, and the country's social history with its slavery aspect. In this way, ethnic and racial issues in Brazilian society, as well as the representation of the female experience of the protagonist Val and her daily struggles as a domestic worker, will be problematized through the analysis of the chosen cinematographic narrative.

Joana, a Romantic Woman-as-Witch Heroine in the film "O Crime de Aldeia Velha" (1964) by Bernardo Santareno, Manuel de Guimarães and José Carlos Andrade

2024-07-22T11:20:03+01:00

Arminda de Jesus was brutally beaten to an inch of her life and then burnt alive. It happened on the night of February 25, 1933, in the place of Oliveira, village of Soalhães, in the municipality of Marco de Canavezes, in the Porto district. Though by all accounts, Arminda was a well-liked, caring rural mother of two young children, she met a gruesome end at the hands of Joaquina’s male relatives, her life-long neighbours. Joaquina was a long-time afflicted when she accused Arminda of being the demonic woman-as-witch harbouring the Devil tormenting her. (Coutinho e Pinto, 1987) In 1964, Manuel de Guimarães directed the film adaptation of Bernardo Santareno’s 1959 play O Crime de Aldeia Velha, adding to the stories about this infamous historical event. Our paper describes how Santareno, Guimarães and Andrade (re)created Arminda de Jesus as Joana. She was the prettiest girl in the village who bewitched all men with her beauty and inversionary behaviour. These attributes precipitated her demise at the hands of the older women in the village. Our analysis of the film narrative illustrates Santareno and Magalhães’ counter-memorialisation of Arminda de Jesus and the events that led to her violent death in this mnemonic [...].

Girl, what do you want to become when you grow up? Audio-visual creation at school

2024-07-10T12:00:03+01:00

Girl, what do you want to become when you grow up? Filmmaking at school. When does the possibility of the dream of filmmaking appear in women's horizons? If contemporary school is regarded as that time and place suitable for inviting new generations to get involved in the world, it is fair to wonder: what place is given to cinema at school for the new generation of women to imagine themselves being part of the filmmaking world? Currently, in Uruguay, Argentina and Chile, teacher education programmes that introduce filmmaking experiences as a part of what happens at school have been consolidating. Watching, analysing and making cinema reflectively and creatively is a part of the knowledges that teachers (mostly women, due to the reality of a strongly feminine profession), experience as a part of their training. Teachers create stories in their courses and with their students about themselves, their places and their realities. Experiences in which they visible their lives and their territories as valuable for imagining other worlds. They put into play visualities that avoid the hegemonic perspective, in which they do not imagine themselves, not even in the ending credits.

Video art - gender identity and territory in the practice of Digital Citizenship

2024-07-10T12:00:23+01:00

This article presents the relationship between video art, as a pedagogical resource in Digital Media Art, and the practice of digital citizenship in formal and informal contexts with young people. Gender identity and territory are presented conceptually as a socio-cultural framework for the artistic approach to the video art created by the author, Somos Todos Mar. The analysis of this video artwork reflects the relationship between women and childhood, poetry and the calm of the sea. This clash of identities portrays the relationship with the world - the (industrialised) sea. As a case study, it reflects on how video art explores the boundaries of territories with the intervention of women. The relationship established with the sea transcends it as a border, a producer of oxygen; in other words, as an element that culturally and historically sustains and builds communities. The need for a cross-disciplinary approach is reinforced in the diversity of areas of study and in artistic school projects that address gender equality, the territory and the environment, based on eco-feminism. We Are All Sea contributed to discussion and reflection on the territory and the relationship with the female figure, encouraging civic and creative participation for a more critical, [...].

In conversation with artist Filipa Venâncio: how the imagination builds painting...

2024-03-01T10:28:19+00:00

Guida Mendes and Teresa Norton Dias, from the C&T board, interviewed the artist Filipa Venâncio who, in her artistic work, bridges the gap between what the cinema suggests to her and what the canvas proposes.

In conversation with Melanie Pereira: Cinema for Women ‘For a cinema of respect’

2024-09-02T21:18:42+01:00

Interview by Inês Rebanda Coelho with Melanie Pereira (MP), a Portuguese-Luxembourg film director born in Luxembourg in 96', the daughter of Portuguese emigrant parents from Tondela. She currently lives in Porto, the city where she chose to study cinema and where she remains today. In her work as a director, she has explored key themes such as Portuguese migrations and human rights, mainly from a female perspective.

Editorial | C&T Management

2024-11-14T14:49:28+00:00

"TÁR" (2022) by Todd Field. The Berlin Conductor

2024-07-10T20:33:44+01:00

TÁR (2022) portrays a phase in the life of a conductor, Lydia Tár, of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, in her attitude towards the art she masters, as an author; in her profession, as a conductor; in her personal life, as a woman and in her relationship with others. With Lydia Tár imposing herself on a vertical, essentially male structure, those who watch the film are presented by the scriptwriter and director, Todd Field, with a series of aspects that go beyond those of her profession as the leader of an orchestra, where the leadership is also predominantly male. In this critical analysis we will try, with the help of authors such as Judith Butler, to establish a parallel between the reality of this fiction and the reality that the 21st century offers us.