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Social documentary filmmaking cannot be undertaken in a theoretical void, regardless of the intentions of the filmmaker. Each film's textual, stylistic and aesthetic composition is dictated by the ideological intent of the filmmaker, either consciously or subconsciously. As a result, social documentary films are a product of either conservative or subversive filmmakers and can be viewed as cultural products of social control by the dominant capitalist ideology or as tools promoting class awareness, class struggle and revolutionary praxis by those sympathetic to Marxist doctrine. This dissertation examines how Marxist ideology, in particular theories relating to class structure and the class struggle, can be used by filmmakers to analyse social documentary films. It enables the construction of a methodological 'toolkit' for filmmakers from which they are able to determine if individual social documentary films can be regarded as Marxist or not. This 'toolkit' is comprised of the theories of Lenin, Comolli and Narboni, Brecht, Althusser, and Weber among others. Once a methodological framework is constructed, it is used to evaluate a number of social documentary case studies including 7-Up, Harlan County USA, Roger and Me, and my own film, A Shit of a Job (which was produced by myself for broadcast on SBS television), as to their adherence to the principles of Marxist aesthetics and allegiance to the proletarian cause of class awareness and the class struggle.

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Book Summary: Commended for their social relevance and artistic value, Chinese films remain at the forefront of international cinema, bolstered in recent years by a new generation of talented young filmmakers. Directory of World Cinema: China presents an accessible overview of the definitive films of Hong Kong and mainland China, with particular attention to the achievements of prolific industry figures, the burgeoning independent sector, and the embrace of avant-garde practices of art cinema. Spanning a variety of characteristic genres, including horror, heroic bloodshed, romantic comedy, and kung-fu, reviews cover individual titles in considerable depth and are accompanied by a selection of full-color film stills. A comprehensive filmography and a bibliography of recommended reading complete this essential companion to Chinese cinema.

In the seedy confines of his one-bedroom apartment, reclusive loner Harris Babel delights in watching the camcorder images of others: images he buys from a strange, smoke-filled store at the end of an alleyway. They are pre-recorded trips to faraway places, memories he pretends are his own. Holidays to Madagascar, trips to Lord Howe Island, tours through Kakadu National Park -- there are no boundaries. But Harris' claustrophobic world takes a disturbing turn when he receives a phone call from the airport, claiming he left luggage behind from a trip he doesn't remember. A trip he never went on. Or did he? From script to screen, Baggage was an exhausting 14-month journey, beginning with the first draft of the script in May 2001 and culminating in the exhibition of the film in July 2002, two days after the final sound and vision cut was completed. At its heart, the film is an exploration of identity, memory and the childhood demons that haunt us. It is about loss and abandonment, camcorder voyeurism and the obsessions that make us human. On reflection, it is a film with many flaws. But the process of recognising these flaws and better understanding the filmmaking process is an essential part of development and growth. This paper will explore the writing and directing process involved in the making of Baggage, analysing structure, cause-and-effect, character identification, suspense, style and substance. It will also evaluate the state of the short film in Australia, its importance in the development of filmmakers and the avenues for exhibition and distribution.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka och synliggöra filmskaparens förhållande till konst och forskning. Under åtta år i olika perioder har filmprojektet Kropparnas Arkiv, pågått som jag parallellt med uppsatsen har slutfört. Filmen väver samman konst och forskning i ett möte mellan konstnär och forskare. Såväl i samtal med filmkollegor som inför nya filmprojekt framträder frågan, hur kan man söka det man inte vet vad det är? Detta kom nu att bli min forskningsfråga. Syftet är att efterforska och reflektera över hur den konstnärliga processen kan fördjupas inom mitt filmskapande. Jag har valt att intervjua tre kvinnor, en konstnär, en skådespelare tillika regissör och en forskare. Mitt urval gör inte anspråk på att vara representativt. Att skådespelaren, regissören och konstnären har beröringspunkter med mig, filmskaparen kan kanske vara mer uppenbart än att forskaren har det. Men är det verkligen så? Målet är att få syn på om det finns likheter, olikheter, vad som skiljer eller vad som förenar de tre intervjuade, i det här sammanhanget kallade informanter, med filmskaparen. Svaren från de intervjuade har jag sorterat under teman som –val eller urskiljning–praktisk nyfikenhet eller kreativitet och slutligen att framkalla det oväntade. I min undersökning använder jag mig av kvalitativa metoder, analyserar svaren och teoretiserar kring dem. Den fenomenologiska hermeneutiken tillika toposläran har varit ryggraden i min undersökning. Det är oundvikligt att Aristoteles och hans tankegångar är fundamentet till teorier och reflektioner som jag tillämpar i uppsatsen. Min ambition är att kunna ta med mig den konstnärliga blicken in i vetenskapsvärlden, att kunna ge en dubbel blick på den vetenskapliga terrängen, ett sätt som jag menar kan förmera och bidra till att vidga mitt seende. Hur och på vilket sätt finns det beröringspunkter och likheter mellan film, konst och forskning–humanismen och naturvetenskapen? Att svara på min forskningsfråga har varit en metod för att synliggöra en process, knappt mätbar men ändå synlig för den som vill se. Frågan skapar en process som speglar de intervjuades förhållningsätt till olika problemställningar inom deras arbetsområde och hur de går vidare i sökandet. Utmärkande för alla är gränser, både att skapa och att överskrida. För att spränga gränser är det nödvändigt att bryta tankebanor och begränsningar, något som alla informanterna gör. Det bekanta behövs för att utforska det obekanta. / Fear not going astray – discover the unknown A filmmaker’s take on art and science   The purpose of this essay is to examine and make visible the filmmaker’s relation to art and scientific research regarding the investigation of new knowledge. Can art and science meet, and in what way do they connect? I have finished Secrets of Animal Anatomy (aka Kropparnas Arkiv), a film project I was working on for eight years. I finished it while I was writing on this essay. The film combines art and science in a meeting between an artist and a scientist. During the process, the question arose: how can you search for something when you don’t even know what it is you are searching for?. It is not wholly new, but has been implicit in discussions with colleagues and in film projects. This became my scientific question. My aim is to investigate how to make the artistic process of filmmaking and film deeper, by reflecting upon and investigating this question. I have chosen to interview three women – one artist, one actor-director, and one scientist. The selection is not meant to be representative. It may seem obvious that the actor, director and artist have more in common with each other than with the scientist, but is this necessarily true? Using this question as a starting point, I aim at finding out differences and similarities between the three interviewees and the filmmaker. I have categorised the interviewees’ answers under different themes like “Choice or distinguishing”, “Curiosity in practice or creativity”, and “To evoke the unexpected”. In my investigation, I employ qualitative methods; I analyse the answers and then theorise. Phenomenological hermeneutics, or Topos theory, has been the backbone of my study. It is undoubtedly so, that Aristotle and his thinking is the foundation of the theories and thoughts that I apply in this essay.   My ambition is to bring the artistic vision to the scientific world, and to view the terrain of science with a double gaze, which I believe can contribute to an understanding both wider and deeper. Is there a strong connection and strong similarities between film, art, and science, and are these three entities prerequisites for one another – humanities and science? Answering my question has been a method to make visible a method, barely measurable yet visible for those willing to see it. The question gives rise to a process, reflecting the interviewees’ stance on different problems within the scope of their work, and how they proceed in their search. What they all have in common is boundaries, creating them and transcending them. In order to break boundaries, it is necessary to create new lines of thought and transcend limitations. This is something common to all informants. The known is necessary to examine the unknown.

Pembroke Circle is a feature-length, micro-budget, digital motion picture, written, produced and directed by Max Rousseau as a part of the University of Central Florida’s Masters in Fine Arts program in Digital Entrepreneurial Cinema. The filmmaker engaged some very difficult material in the micro-budget paradigm and grew personally and professionally in the process. This thesis documents the writing process, pre-production, fund-raising, production and post-production; all leading to the completion of a festival-ready feature film. It is the hope that this thesis will create an understanding of what it takes to make a micro-budget film and offer some help to future filmmakers embarking on a similar path.

The intent of this paper is to examine the conditions for Swedish filmmakers with the short film format as final goal. Through a qualitative study we investigate what paths there are for distributing short films through the digital platforms available today. We do this by interviewing some of the most experienced and successful short film creators in Sweden and one of Sweden's main financier in film creation, to provide as just image of the branch as we can. Short films with financing from the state and regional financiers rarely has any focus on economic gain. They are rather intended to help form filmmakers and give them an opportunity to establish themselves prior to further filmmaking. The main digital platform in Sweden is SVT Play, witch is much based on the fact that SVT is part of sponsoring a big part of the government financed short films. The greatest problem we found is the availability for short films through digital platforms, since SVT Play most often has exclusive rights and only buy viewing rights during periods. When you want to distribute your short film, the most important aspect is the context, the film should not only appeal the audience it reaches but it also has to appeal the audience in the situation where it reaches them. / Vi undersöker förutsättningarna för filmskapare i Sverige med kortfilmsformatet som slutmål. I form av en kvalitativ studie tar vi reda på vilka vägar det finns för att distribuera sina kortfilmer med hjälp av dagens digitala plattformar och hur dessa nyttjas. Detta görs genom att intervjua några av Sveriges mest erfarna och framgångsrika kortfilmsskapare och en av Sveriges största finansiärer av filmskapande för att skapa en så korrekt bild av branschen som möjligt. Det kompletteras med en kvantitativ enkätundersökning ämnad att skapa en generell bild av svenskars konsumtion av statligt och regionalt finansierad kortfilm. Kortfilmer med statligt och regionalt stöd har sällan något fokus på ekonomisk vinning. De är snarare ämnade att forma filmskapare och ge dem en möjlighet att grunda inför fortsatt filmskapande. Den huvudsakliga digitala plattformen är SVT Play, på grund av att SVT är med och sponsrar en stor del av de statligt och regionalt finansierade kortfilmerna. Det största problemet vi funnit är tillgängligheten för kortfilmer på digitala plattformar, då SVT Play oftast har exklusiva rättigheter och bara har visningsrättigheter periodvis. Då man vill sprida sin kortfilm handlar det främst om kontexten, att filmen inte bara ska tilltala publiken den når utan också tilltala publiken i den situation publiken är i då den når den.

Abstract The objective of this artistic research has been to reflect on the conditions forfilmmakers in Sweden and identify expectations, contradictions and subjectpositions available for myself within this discursive field. As a point of departure,I use three letters of rejection that I have received during my two years as astudent at the Stockholm University of the Arts. The first rejection centers what experiences can be imagined for me, as animmigrant filmmaker. It juxtaposes experiences made in Iran and Sweden asopposite and impossible to combine. The second rejection is in relation to contentand story-telling, which raises questions about translation as a dimension of filmproduction. In this section, I argue that while it is my intention to make experiencesof hyper-absurdity in Iran penetrable for an audience in Sweden, too muchconcern over the audience may deteriorate the artistic process. The third rejectionconstructs myself and my fellow director as immigrant others, scrutinizing ourability to make a film in Swedish, about Swedish subjects. In this section, Iexplore the meaning of diaspora and how it shapes the conditions of filmproduction. The artistic research is summarized in the final section where I suggest anumber of strategies forward in order to move away from the taken-for-grantedrole of immigrant filmmaker(s). Key concepts: documentary film, diaspora, translation

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