[pt] Esta pesquisa investiga as relações formais e conceituais entre o uso de imagens de arquivo e o gesto ensaístico a partir de três eixos: o ensaísmo no uso das imagens de arquivo; a linguagem cinematográfica como ferramenta política; e reflexões sobre o arquivo nas práticas de contra-arquivo. Através de uma abordagem transdisciplinar e do cruzamento entre reflexões sobre cinema, arquivo, história e política, procuro oferecer respostas às perguntas: como o uso de imagens de arquivo pode ser um dispositivo para o filme-ensaio? E como a arte, em especial, o cinema pode colaborar na luta contra regimes hegemônicos? / [en] This research investigates the formal and conceptual relationships between the use of archive images and the essayistic gesture based on three axes: essayism in the use of archive images; cinematographic language as a political tool; and reflections on the archive in the light of counter-archive practices. Through a transdisciplinary approach and in the intersection of discussions on cinema, archives, history and politics, I try to offer answers to the following questions: how the use of archival images can become a device for the essay film? And how can art, and in particular cinema, contribute to the battle against hegemonic regimes?

[pt] O cinema yiddish é brevemente mencionado na bibliografia sobre a história mundial do cinema. A partir da lacuna, a corrente pesquisa, realizada no contexto desta tese de doutorado, apresenta o cenário do surgimento do cinema falado em yiddish, proveniente do teatro yiddish, com o objetivo de incluir esta prática cultural e artistica no campo dos estudos históricos do cinema. O argumento é que o gesto de desenterramento do cinema yiddish, como parte do revigoramento contemporâneo da cultura yiddish, funciona como um passe para a transmissão e a resistência ao seu total apagamento. O cinema-passaporte atravessa diversas temporalidades e permite uma imersão na cultura, através da pesquisa nos arquivos de imagens do cotidiano das comunidades judaicas na Polônia no entreguerras. Para sustentar a questão da ausência do cinema yiddish na biografia da história mundial do cinema, são investigados quatro filmes: Mir Kumen On (Estamos Chegando, Aleksander Ford, 1936), Yidl mitn Fidl (Yidl e o Violino, Joseph Green e Jan Nowina-Przybylski, 1936), Der Dibuk (O Dibuk, Michał Waszyński, 1937) e Um dia em Varsóvia (A Day in Warsaw, Saul e Yitzhak Goskind, 1939). Além das narrativas, o objetivo é mostrar a história dos filmes e de seus diretores com o propósito, sempre necessário, de transmitir a importância da preservação da memória da cultura yiddish através do cinema, bem como dos fragmentos de filmes que sobreviveram ao genocídio da Shoah e dos aspectos centrais que emergem a partir das narrativas. / [en] Yiddish cinema is briefly mentioned in the bibliography on the world history of cinema. Starting from this gap, the current research, carried out in the context of this doctoral dissertation, presents the scenario of the emergence of cinema spoken in Yiddish, originated from Yiddish theater, with the aim of including this cultural and artistic practice in the field of historical film studies. The argument is that the gesture of unearthing the yiddish cinema, as part of a contemporary revival of yiddish culture, works as a pass for transmission and resistance to its total erasure. The Passport-cinema crosses different temporalities and allows an immersion in culture, through research in the archives of images of the daily life of the Jewish communities in Poland during the interwar period. To support the issue of the absence of Yiddish cinema in the biography of world cinemahistory, four films are investigated: Mir Kumen On (We are Coming, Aleksander Ford, 1936), Yidl mitn Fidl (Yidl and the Violin, Joseph Green e Jan Nowina- Przybylski, 1936), Der Dibuk (The Dibuk, Michał Waszyński, 1937) and Um dia em Varsóvia (A Day in Warsaw, Saul e Yitzhak Goskind, 1939). In addition to the narratives, we bring the history of the films and their directors, with the always necessary purpose of conveying the importance of preserving the memory of Yiddish culture through cinema, as well as the film fragments that survived the Shoah genocide, and the central aspects that emerge from these narratives.

L’axe principal de ce travail de thèse est de s’intéresser à ce projet visuel dans l’œuvre d’Albert Kahn et d’ouvrir le champ en s’intéressant aux devenirs des films des Archives de la Planète. Pour cela, la thèse s’appuie sur la totalité des archives administratives du Musée Albert Kahn, sur les archives d’Albert Kahn et sur ses nombreux proches, sur les archives départementales et nationales ou encore à travers des enquêtes menés dans les archives de l’INA, des centres d’art et les archives du film. En s’intéressant, dans un premier temps, à la figure kahnienne à travers la construction des discours contemporains ou posthumes de Kahn, la thèse s’oriente dans un deuxième temps vers une analyse du projet visuel kahnien. En s’appuyant sur des penseurs contemporains de Kahn et sur certains de ses écrits, ce deuxième temps tente de comprendre comment les Archives de la Planète sont rendues possibles et en quoi elles s’inscrivent dans une pensée de l’image à la fois globale et spécifique. Enfin, la troisième partie de ce travail explore, premièrement, la « mise en disponibilités » des films des Archives de la Planète en partant de la mort d’Albert Kahn jusqu’au début des années 2000 en s’appuyant sur l’histoire de l’institution muséale et sur ses satellites – comme la « Cinémathèque de Boulogne ». Le deuxième temps de la troisième partie ouvre la réflexion en se concentrant sur les devenirs des Archives de la Planète à travers des études de cas d’appropriations des films kahniens dans des productions extérieures (Chris Marker, Abel Gance, Nicole Vedrès, Frédéric Rossif etc.) et à la télévision. / The main approach of this PhD is to focus on the visual project within Albert Kahn’s work and to broaden the scope by studying what will become of the films from the Archives of the Planet. To achieve this goal, the thesis draws on the whole administrative archives of the Albert Kahn Museum, on the archives of Albert Kahn and his numerous relatives, on the departmental and national archives and through investigations conducted in the archives of the INA (the National Institute for Audio-visual Media), art centres and the film’s archives. By first looking at the kahnian figure through the construction of Kahn’s contemporary and posthumous speeches, the thesis then takes a turn towards an analysis of the kahnian visual project. As it draws on thinkers contemporary to Kahn and on some of his writings, this second part attempts to grasp how the Archives of the Planet have been made possible and how they are embedded in a thinking, both global and specific, on images. Finally, the third part of this work first delves into the period when the films of the Archives of the Planet were “made available” from Albert Kahn’s death to the early 2000s, by drawing on the history of the museal institution and its satellites – such as the “Cinémathèque de Boulogne.” The third part then opens up the reflection by focusing on the futures of the Archives of the Planet and, by studying cases of appropriation of the kahnian films in external productions (Chris Marker, Abel Gance, Nicole Vedrès, Frédéric Rossif etc.) and on television.

A travers l’étude de l’œuvre du cinéaste Roman Karmen, nous souhaitons reconstituer un patrimoine et tenter d’en définir les enjeux autour de questions historiographiques. En effet, les images de l’opérateur soviétique n’ont pas seulement marqué l’histoire du XXème, elles ont en partie contribué à la construire en un objet unique. Les propriétés métonymiques de l’image (photographies et prises de vues) ont bouleversé notre perception en même temps qu’elles ont participé à la construction d’un récit historique général d’un nouvel ordre. Il s’agit d’un récit visuel complexe où se mêlent prises de vues sur le vif et mises en scène, motifs et emblèmes, personnages principaux, personnages secondaires et masses anonymes. Disséminées, ces prises de vues constituent le principal réservoir d’images dites d’archives dont se servent régulièrement les documentaristes contemporains pour faire « témoigner l’Histoire ». Retracer le parcours de Karmen permet de revenir aux sources de ces images, de comprendre leurs enjeux, leurs contextes de production et leurs rapports au sein d’une œuvre dont le récit se confond avec l’Histoire. Nous faisons ici l’hypothèse que ce récit constitué de prises de vues, d’actualités et de films documentaires est à l’origine « d’une vulgate soviétique de l’Histoire ». / With the study of Roman Karmen’s cinematographic work, we want to retrace a heritage and to identify its implications through an historiographical approach. Not only did the Soviet filmmaker’s images go down in history but they also contributed to shape the twentieth century into a single object. Indeed, the metonymic properties of Karmen’s shootings (cinematographic photography and live action) upset our perception and contributed to build an historical account that sustains a new order. It is a complex visual narrative bringing together live action and staging, subjects and emblems, main characters, secondary characters and anonymous masses. Disseminated, Roman Karmen’s work is the main reservoir of “archival images” often used by contemporary documentary filmmakers as a mean to present “first-hand History”. Following Roman Karmen’s artistic itinerary allows us to gain a better understanding of these images: their initial purposes, their making process, and their relationships in a work within which story merges with History. We assume that this narrative consisting of pictures, cinematic newsreels, and documentary films shaped the “Soviet vulgate of history”.