Film analysis as a methodological tool: a new perspective on understanding the right to the city

Abstract

This article reflects on film analysis as a methodological tool for investigating and understanding the right to the city. Drawing on the theoretical contributions of Henri Lefebvre and contemporary authors on urban planning and social representations of space, it seeks to highlight how cinema constitutes a narrative and visual device capable of revealing socio-spatial inequalities, territorial disputes and strategies of resistance. As an empirical case study, the article analyses specific stills from Marina Meliande’s film Mormaço (2018), highlighting depictions of urban squatting and forced evictions in contexts of gentrification and mega-events. The methodology combines film analysis, urban geography and cultural studies, highlighting cinema as an aesthetic and political language that broadens our critical understanding of urban space.