The Video Turn: Documentary Film Practices in 1980s India
2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 27; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/08949468.2014.852461
ISSN1545-5920
Autores Tópico(s)Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics
ResumoAbstract This article focuses on the technology of documentary filmmaking in India, drawing attention to its materiality and its historical transformation after the arrival of video there in the 1980s. Two aspects of the 1980s video-making are emphasized: on the one hand, a focus on possibilities that video created for non-professional filmmakers; and on the other, the novelty of video-documentary practices in India is questioned. I argue that in a context in which documentary activities were already established, video technology enabled these practices to increase in number, become small-media practices and go beyond state restrictions. I also argue that if this was valid from the distribution-outlet perspective it was not so straightforward from the production perspective. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the anonymous reviewer of this article for providing insightful suggestions to this piece. I also thank Paolo Favero for reading an earlier version of this article and having had with me a productive conversation on the subject. I am extremely grateful to all filmmakers who shared their stories of the 1980s during set-up and unset-up interviews. In addition, I thank Sabeena Gadihoke for sharing her 1980s and early 1990s documents with me, and Thomas Waugh for donating to me his invaluable video-interview material. Notes Historical material also includes video interviews conducted by Professor Thomas Waugh (Concordia University, Montreal) between January and February 1988. Waugh never analyzed this material and donated the whole set of interviews to me when I conducted fieldwork (2007–2009). These video interviews became an integral part of my doctoral analysis. To read more about this archival material see Battaglia [2012 Battaglia , Giulia 2012 Documentary Film Practices in India: History of the Present . 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Media Mail (later known as Alternate Media Times) was an independent quarterly magazine published during 1997–2001. It was run by Magic Lantern and supported by readers' contributions. During its short existence this independent quarterly reported on most of the documentary film activities and other media-related topics in India. These articles are not fully referenced because I received them through Sabeena Gadihoke without full dates and pages. Editor's note: Back in that period, and later, many state governments were charging a "shooting fee" of many hundreds of rupees per day for any filming, documentary or otherwise, that used professional cameras of 16 mm or larger formats. For many would-be filmmakers, including anthropologists, this and the requirement that an official must be present during the shooting—at the filmmaker's expense—were prohibitive conditions. For others, it was clear that bribery was the only solution. Ranjan Palit, video-interviewed by Thomas Waugh, Calcutta, ca. January–February 1988; see also Note 1. Anand Patwardhan, video-interviewed by Thomas Waugh, Bombay, ca. January–February 1988; see also Note 1. Additional informationNotes on contributorsGiulia BattagliaGIULIA BATTAGLIAholds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from SOAS, University of London, and is a Fellow in Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her interests include South Asian film culture, documentary and ethnographic film, visual culture, media and cultural activism, digital technology, media and visual anthropology. Her Ph.D. research is a historical ethnography of documentary film practices in India.
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