Essa tese investiga a representação da região amazônica nos filmes longas-metragens documentais do cineasta luso-brasileiro Silvino Santos Amazonas, maior rio do mundo (1918-1920) e No paiz das Amazonas (1921/1922), considerando sua dimensão histórica e estética. Busca-se discutir as particularidades apreendidas em cada um deles por meio da análise fílmica e à luz da história e das tradições discursivas sobre a região enfocada. As análises empreendidas procuraram demonstrar o multifacetado trânsito de referências históricas e culturais que se encontram na origem da criação cinematográfica de Silvino Santos e das elites locais com os quais se relacionou. Foram utilizados elementos diversos, oriundos de relatórios oficiais, críticas de jornais, livros, fotografias, pinturas, cartões postais que corroboram diversas estratégias de filmagens, sejam elas \"documentais\", ficionalizantes, encenadas etc.. Buscou-se dar a ver o trânsito complexo de raízes, procedimentos e efeitos reconhecidos nos objetos tratados. Bem como buscou-se atentar para a relação dos discursos fílmicos com o contexto colonialista vigente no cinema dito silencioso. O percurso da pesquisa apresenta também um estudo panorâmico sobre as principais produções discursivas, sobretudo visuais, que remontam ao final do século XIX, auge da economia da borracha e período da implementação da propaganda moderna financiada e demandada pelas elites governamentais e comerciais do Amazonas. Considerações da Nova História do Cinema, História Cultural e História Social da Arte foram tomadas como referenciais teóricos. / This thesis investigates the representation of the Amazon region in the documentary feature films of the Portuguese-Brazilian filmmaker Silvino Santos Amazonas, maior rio do mundo (1918-1920) and No paiz das Amazonas (1921/1922), considering its historical and aesthetic dimension. It seeks to discuss the particularities apprehended in each of them through the filmic analysis and the light of the history and the discursive traditions about the focused region. The analyzes attempted to demonstrate the multifaceted transit of historical and cultural references that are at the origin of the cinematographic creation of Silvino Santos and the local elites with whom he related. Various elements were used, from official reports, criticisms of newspapers, books, photographs, paintings, postcards that corroborate diverse strategies of filming, whether they are \"documentary\", ficionalizantes, staged etc. The aim was to show the complex transit of roots, procedures and effects recognized in the treated objects. As well as an attempt was made to look at the relation of the filmic discourses with the current colonialist context in the so-called silent film. The course of the research also presents a panoramic study on the main discursive productions, mainly visual, dating back to the end of the 19th century, the boom of the rubber economy and the period of implementation of the modern propaganda financed and demanded by the governmental and commercial elites of Amazonas. Considerations of the New History of Cinema, Cultural History and Social History of Art were taken as theoretical references.

Breaking the Frames of the Past examines recent visual and literary work about the periods of historical violence in Argentina, Chile, and Peru. In my dissertation, I argue that these cultural productions can challenge the linear conception of historical time, and reveal the existent tensions and blind spots present within the cultural memory realm of each nation. By examining the specificity of the materials and the aesthetic strategies present in the works, I hope to elucidate a necessary introspective turn in memory- what I have nominated metamemory, present in works that not only seek to interrogate official national paradigms, discourses of the past, productions of knowledge, and memorial imperatives, but also works that are profoundly aware of their condition as memory objects within a cultural memory realms. Breaking the Frames of the Past is divided into two parts, Part One: Images, engages with memory at a broader collective level, and analyzes the different ways the photographic medium has been used to represent the past and craft a sense of national belonging. Part Two: Texts is concerned with subjective memory, and the overlap between childhood memories lived simultaneously within the frame of a period of historical violence. I discuss literary work written by those born during these periods of violence in order to see how from their subjective experience and through their works they can assert to the existing tensions within cultural memory paradigms. In examining novels by those who are “the Secondary Characters” of history, I argue that their use of metafictional strategies is able to counter the feeling of displacement and sense of belatedness that is present in postmemory works.

Thesis advisor: Christina Klein / The cultural face of modern China is constantly changing, whether through economic reforms, political campaigns, or social values. The ultimate inheritors and current carriers of this society in flux is the current post socialist, post 1989 youth generation. This paper examines the cultural changes that are occurring in China through six documentary films made in the 21st century that focus on youth and young adults as the representatives of the issues that the directors explore. In two films, the issue of the Single Child Policy will be examined in terms of the social repercussions the policy has created for modern youth, including gender, ethnic, and class inequalities. In the next two films, the economic conditions that have produced millions of migrant examined as it relates to the changing family values in much of China. The last two films explore the consumer culture of today’s modern youth, and how this culture impacts the expressive output of this generation. I conclude through these films that although the youth of today have been irrevocably shaped by these, and other, cultural changes that have occurred during their lifetime, they are still most fundamentally influenced by the traditional values of Chinese culture including relationships, family, and collective expression. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: International Studies Honors Program. / Discipline: International Studies.

Thesis advisor: William Stanwood / This analysis examined the effects of reality television on its audiences. The purpose of the research was twofold: to uncover the effects that reality television has upon its audiences, and to determine whether or not these effects indicate that reality TV acts as an agent of societal change. The genre was divided into two distinct programming types: documentary as diversion and lifestyle programs. The findings suggested that reality TV has many audience effects. Discussion centered around the investigation of the second research question. It was concluded that lifestyle programs are agents of societal change, while documentary as diversion programs are not. Limitations and suggestions for further research were put forth. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Communication Honors Program. / Discipline: Communication.

Student Number : 8707660F - MA research report - School of Literature and Language Studies - Faculty of Humanities / This paper considers the interaction between the process of producing a documentary video film ‘The Medicine Bag’ and an indigenous knowledge system from the Northern Cape where herbalists or traditional healers are known as ! aixa (Qaiga). These healers use indigenous plants and other raw materials, sounds, rubbing or massaging techniques, incisions and other methods to heal or to harm members of the community. The Schwartz family, Namas who hail from this region, have for many years passed the knowledge and the skills for healing on from generation to generation. For as long as the family can remember, members of each generation, specially gifted and interested in acquiring these skills, have been selected and trained to recognise and harvest medical plants, prepare medicines and apply the various skills required to heal the sick. The raw herbs, potions and medicines have been kept in a medicine bag, made from a tanned springbuck hide. Research for a documentary video to record oral accounts and practices attached to the medicine bag, revealed various themes related to the interaction between oral accounts and the process of recording and transcribing these narratives. These themes included the absence of a fixed storyline or a single ‘correct’ text as is often assumed when one engages with written literature; shifts in meaning that occur when the physical forms of the accounts change as each recording or re-editing acquires a ‘performative aura’ and issues such as the importation of cultural authority and resources on the participants, their active participation in the process of memory and archive creation as well as the impact of the process on the filmmaker/researcher that included an enriched understanding of the scope and possibilities of working with oral texts

Submitted in fulfilment of the Degree of Master of Arts (Fine Arts) Johannesburg, March 2017 / This dissertation uses David Goldblatt’s seminal photobook, On the Mines (1973, revised 2012) to mediate a biographical conversation with Raymond Zavala, a migrant mineworker who left Mozambique in 1962 to live and work in Johannesburg. On the Mines was used as a vehicle to examine intimate details of one man’s life in the mines, focusing particularly on a mine in Roodepoort known as Durban Deep, where Raymond worked for 38 years. During my visits with Raymond, On the Mines was kept in hand as he and I walked through what once was a prosperous mining town. We would discuss his day-to-day life as a migrant, mineworker, husband and father, and began layering and inserting our own stories and photographs over and into On the Mines in an attempt to portray a more personal account of one person’s life on the mines. Goldblatt’s photographic archive is crucial to this process in that it enabled me to initiate conversations with Raymond about his personal history, memory and identity. This research, encompassed in the visual biography presented here, was created in collaboration with Raymond. He guided me through this process by directing the narrative of his own story, recommending specific landscapes and people for me to meet and photograph.  I have chosen to present this practice in the form of a photobook, so that its concept and content can be shared as a critical resolution of my visual and narrative engagement. / XL2018

M.A.--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, Film and Television / Scholarly discourses on documentary film have focused on the debate between documentary’s claims of ‘objectivity’ and ‘truthfulness’ versus the reality of its subjective ontology. At the turn of the 21st century, there seems to be appreciation of the constructiveness of documentary film. This development is taking place at the backdrop of emergence of more subjective documentary films produced by a new crop of filmmakers who do not shy away from exposing their subjective production thoughts and processes, contrary to earlier documentary filmmakers. This renewed interest is interesting and points to something that calls for an investigation in order to understand fundamental reasons behind it. In this report, I investigate the relationship between this development and the concept of ‘Creative Imagination’ normally associated with fiction film. Particularly, the paper investigates why ‘Creative Imagination’ may be understood to deploy aspects of realism style which manipulates time, space, character, and characterisation, in the production and analysis of documentary films. Through a production of a documentary film The Zulu Mask, this report hypothesises that documentary just like fiction film utilises the logic of creative imagination of the mind and aspects of realism style’ to mimic the real. Documentary and fiction, I argue are thus the products of the same thought process and desire.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo discorrer sobre a figura do cineasta brasileiro Alberto Cavalcanti e sua participação do Movimento Documentário Britânico, como produtor e diretor no GPO Film Unit. Considerado um marco na história do cinema do Reino Unido, este Movimento adquiriu força, entre os anos de 1926 a 1939, ao produzir pequenos filmes que eram experimentos em linguagem e técnica cinematográficas. Para isso, contou com a colaboração de Cavalcanti, cuja contribuição é reconhecida pela crítica de hoje como fundamental. Para analisar como foi sua passagem pelo GPO Film Unit, este trabalho foi dividido em duas partes. A primeira foca as origens de Cavalcanti no Brasil e sua trajetória até a França. Descreve o início de sua carreira no cinema e apresenta o filme mais importante que dirigiu em Paris - Rien que Les Heures. A seguir, conta os motivos que o levaram a deixar a França e aceitar o convite de John Grierson para unir-se ao GPO Film Unit. Outros temas abordados são, o uso do cinema como ferramenta de propaganda, o contexto histórico e a participação de alguns personagens como o compositor Benjamin Britten e o poeta W.H. Auden. Para exemplificar e ao mesmo tempo analisar o trabalho do cineasta, a segunda parte concentra-se no filme Coal Face, dirigido por Cavalcanti em 1935. Esta análise levanta alguns dos recursos estilísticos utilizados pelo cineasta para a criação do filme, e o seu trabalho com a banda sonora. E, a partir desses elementos, faz algumas leituras do filme, buscando interpretá-lo a partir das temáticas apresentadas nas imagens e no som / The aim of this dissertation is to discuss the contribution of Brazilian filmmaker Alberto Cavalcanti to the British Documentary Film Movement, as a producer and director at the GPO Film Unit. This Movement is considered a key moment in the British film history as its short films became prime examples of film language and technique. Cavalcanti is now considered by critics to be the major figure this movement. This text is divided in two parts. The first is focused on Cavalcanti´s biography: his origins in Brazil, his period to France and the beginning of his career in the cinema. It also presents his most important French film Rien que les Heures. The dissertation also discusses the reasons that made him move from France to England. Other themes discussed are the use of cinema as propaganda, the historical context, and the contribution of artists like composer Benjamin Britten and poet W.H. Auden to the GPO Film Unit. The second part of this text focuses on Coal Face, directed by Cavalcanti for the GPO Film Unit in 1935 and describes and interprets his stylistic techniques and his work with sound on this film

Cette recherche se structure autour de quelques pratiques documentaires dans le contexte italien contemporain : Michelangelo Frammartino, Gianni Celati, Pietro Marcello… Étudiées en tant que méthodes particulières de médiation et d’écriture parmi de nombreuses autres agençant l’univers médial actuel, ces expériences nous révèlent leur spécifique statut écologique. C’est à une écologie générale (socio-politique, perceptive et symbolique) qu’on se réfère : celle qui a été proposée par des théoriciens tels que Felix Guattari, Tim Ingold ou Bruno Latour. Fidèles à un certain empirisme habitant ainsi qu’à une attention interactive envers nos milieux, ces créations documentaires captent, questionnent et racontent l’ensemble enchevêtré de présences composant nos milieux. Malgré un intérêt cinématographique prioritaire (pour Michelangelo Frammartino, d’abord), les théories et les exemples mobilisés permettent de définir une catégorie de « documentaire » capable d’inclure des formes médiales très variées comme la littérature (à travers Gianni Celati, surtout) ou le théâtre sur la base d’un principe commun d’enquête appareillée des environnements qu’on habite. Entre les lignes de ce paradigme écologique et trans-médiale du documentaire nous identifions les coordonnées d’une manière plus soutenable et attentive d’habiter les milieux complexes (autant « naturels » que sociaux, techniques et sémiotiques) dans les lesquels nous sommes toujours déjà impliqués. Elle est inaugurée par d’autres récits et d’autres perceptions de ce qui nous entoure qu’on appellera des « contre-fictions ». / This research takes place among some documentary practices in the contemporary Italian field : Michelangelo Frammartino, Gianni Celati, Pietro Marcello… Studied as specific methods of mediation and writing in the middle of many others organizing today’s medial world, these experiences reveal us their specific ecological status. We refer to a general ecology (socio-political, perceptive and symbolic) : the one that has been defined by thinkers like Felix Guattari, Tim Ingold or Bruno Latour. Devoted to an empirical dwelling as much as to an interactive attention towards our environments, these documentary creations record, question and narrate the entanglement of presences composing our milieux. Despite a fundamental cinematic interest (first of all for Michelangelo Frammartino), the theories and the exemples taken into account allow us to define a category of « documentary » capable of including other medial forms like literature (through Gianni Celati, above all) or theatre on the basis of a commun technical exploration of the environments we dwell in. Between the lines of such an ecological and trans-medial concept of documentary we spot the landmarks of a more sustainable and attentive way of living the multilayered environments (« natural » as well as social, technical and semiotic) in which we are always already involved. Such an alternative way of living begins with other storytellings and other perceptions of what surrounds us that we will call « counter-fictions ».

O principal objetivo desta pesquisa é fazer um estudo e uma discussão comparativa sobre o modo como dois importantes personagens sociais são retratados pela cinematografia brasileira em um conjunto delimitado de filmes: o Metalúrgico e o Motoboy. Por meio de uma análise estética e narrativa, investiga-se como cineastas lançaram o olhar sobre a realidade contemporânea e construíram um imaginário audiovisual dessas categorias profissionais. Com base em autores como Bernardet (2003), Tomizaki (2007), Eisenstein (1990), Pudovkin (1961), Silva (2011), Nichols (1991) entre outros que discutem o tema, analisam-se seis documentários brasileiros que retratam a vida e saga dos protagonistas deste estudo. Recorre-se também, para cotejar a produção nacional em relação ao que cineastas estrangeiros têm produzido sobre o tema, a filmes correlatos, como A Classe operária vai ao paraíso (1971), Sem destino (1969) e outros. A análise inclui a discussão de aspectos técnicos que vão do posicionamento de câmeras, tomadas de cena até a montagem e trilha sonora. Entre as conclusões, pode-se observar que, enquanto os metalúrgicos construíram uma identidade ante a sociedade, os motoboys continuam a ser uma incógnita perturbadora, personagens que vêm sabe-se lá de onde, vivendo um eterno e cruel presente, sem perspectivas de futuro, trabalhando numa profissão perigosa e de certa forma desprestigiados pela população. O processo de pesquisa da tese são o fundamento e a orientação para um novo documentário a ser finalizado e que vem sendo pensado como uma reflexão cinematográfica sobre os avanços e reveses, expectativas e desilusões do projeto de modernização industrial e urbana da sociedade brasileira. / The main objective of this research is to make a study and a comparative discussion on how two important social characters are portrayed by the Brazilian cinema in a set, delimited, of movies: the Metallurgical and the Motoboy. Through an aesthetic and narrative analysis, investigating as filmmakers cast their eyes on contemporary reality and built a visual imagery of these professional categories. Based on authors like Bernardet (2003), Tomizaki (2007), Eisenstein (1990), Pudovkin (1961), Silva (2011), Nichols (1991) among others discussing the issue, we analyze six Brazilian documentaries depicting the life and saga of the protagonists of this study. It also refers to collate domestic production in relation to foreign filmmakers that have produced on the subject, about related films such as The Working class goes to paradise (1971), Easy rider (1969) and other examples. The analysis includes a discussion of technical issues ranging from cameras placement, taken to the assembly and soundtrack. Among findings, it can be observed that, while the metallurgical built an identity to society, couriers remain a disturbing unknown, characters who come who knows where, living in an eternal and cruel fate, without future prospects, working in a dangerous profession and somewhat discredited by the population. The research process of the thesis are the basis and the guidance for a new documentary to be finalized and intended as a cine reflection on the progress and setbacks on the expectations and disappointments of industrial and urban modernization project of Brazilian society.