Beyond the Masterpiece Tradition: Mining the Archive for Alternative Histories of Portuguese…

Catalog description

Drawing on anthropology, new film history and media archaeology, this course takes the moving image archive as a departure point to revisit, reconceptualise and expand Portuguese film history and historiography. We will consider the works and formats that have been neglected – actualities, utility films, newsreels, amateur films, domestic footage and film fragments – to revise theoretical and historiographical assumptions and recover parallel, interrupted and non-teleological film histories that have hitherto failed to be written. We will also examine the appropriation of archival footage by other film productions and discuss the impact of the ‘digital turn’ on film archives. Conducted in English.