Film and Family Archives

Family portraits, letters, home-videos, notes, diaries, and small objects and accessories are often key to tracing hidden secrets and desires within one’s own family. Beyond this, by examining family archives we can gain a deeper understanding of regional and national histories. This seminar pays attention to filmmakers from different latitudes whose work draws from family archives–or, at times, found archives. Considering Lourdes Portillo, Natalia Almada, Naomi Kawase, Sergio Oksman, Joao Moreira Salles, Chantal Akerman, Karim Anouz, and Juan Carlos Rulfo, to mention but a few, we will explore how their use of archival materials pushes them to experiment with the documentary form. In this interdisciplinary course, we will also examine the ways in which their use of family archives not only shapes the stories they tell, but constitutes them as persons and artists. Finally, we will delve into the porous quality of personal histories and how they permeate into other, larger political narratives. Students will keep a journal on weekly discussions and produce a paper or short cinematic piece that reflects that topics discussed in class.