[ecrea] CFP – Filmic Forms and Practices of Autochthonous Struggles

*Filmic Forms and Practices of Autochthonous Struggles*

Paris, February 27-28, April 8-9, May 2-3, 2019

La Fémis / PSL Research University

/Call for (re)presentations/

These three colloquia set out to bring together filmmakers, activists, 
and researchers to discuss the use of film and media technologies in the 
social movements of autochthonous populations. In the company of those 
involved in these communities and social movements, our aim is to map 
the film and media forms and practices employed within recent and 
ongoing autochthonous struggles. These exchanges will investigate the 
different situations and experiences that produce these filmic forms, 
their vernacular histories and roles within these political and social 
movements of resistance. The colloquia are organized under the auspices 
of the research project “For a Global Study of Filmic Practices within 
Autochthonous Struggles,” lead by Nicole Brenez at the French national 
film school La Fémis and funded by PSL Research University’s Global 
Studies initiative.

We are looking for proposals for both presentations that fit the more 
traditional academic format of a 20-minute talk, but also experimental 
forms. The latter can entail media works or performance pieces, 
presented and/or performed either in person or submitted to the 
organizers to be screened/played (video, sound recording) or as notes 
and directions to be interpreted by the bodies and voices of those 
present at the events. The proposals for presentations and experimental 
forms should follow the themes of one of the following events.

#1: Autochthonous Cinema against Occupations [North America]

/February 27-28, 2019, with:/

    – Alanis Obomsawin (filmmaker and musician)

    – Myron Dewey (filmmaker and activist, Digital Smoke Signals)

    – Sky Hopinka (filmmaker and visual artist)

#2: A Long View on Colonizing Practices and their Amnesia [Pacific/West 
Indies]

/April 8-9, 2019, with:/

    – John Gianvito (filmmaker and professor at Emerson College)

    – Myrla Baldonado (activist, Pilipino Workers Center)

#3: Autochthonous Futures, Our Future [Oceania/North America]//

/May 2-3, 2019, with:/

    – Karrabing Film Collective (artist and activist collective)

    – Lisa Rave (filmmaker and visual artist)

    – Erik Blinderman (filmmaker and visual artist)

*The research project and its central concerns*

Collectively, we aim to create a space for the study and promotion of 
the role and forms of filmic and media practices, enlisted during times 
of adversity when the effects of global processes intersect with the 
lives of indigenous and rural communities.

These autochthonous communities – their identity and ways of life 
embedded in deep historical and cultural bonds to their lands – are 
often the first in line to bear witness, suffer and endure political 
disenfranchisement, state violence, economic exploitation, pollution and 
contamination of lands and living beings, environmental injustice, 
expropriation, and displacement. Behind these experiences and instances 
of plight are large-scale ecological, macroeconomic, and geopolitical 
processes, which take decades or centuries to play out, encompass 
continents, and whose origins are largely human. An environmental 
catastrophe, a negative economic development, or a series of hostile 
political decisions can lead to situations of intense distress and 
struggle where autochthonous communities need to mobilize in order to 
ensure their existence and protect their environment. During these times 
of conflict, they require tools to frame and render tangible the impacts 
of global processes. In creating and employing compelling figurative and 
representational forms, the communities can make their voices heard and 
raise awareness about their causes, allowing them to reach society at 
large, which bears a great share of responsibility in begetting and 
sustaining large-scale processes. Since the 1960s, many of these 
communities have made use of various media practices as a way to 
document and engage with the struggles they are involved in.

We are interested in studying how the act of image and sound making 
becomes a part of the dynamic of the struggle; what effect do the filmic 
and media practices have on the course of the struggle; how are the 
figurative and representational forms conceived and adapted to the 
particular situation; in what ways does the community participate in or 
influence the process of devising these forms; how are the works lent a 
historical depth, given a sense of the larger processes at work, while 
also conveying the urgency of the situation; how and where are the 
resulting works distributed and what is their effect both within the 
community and outside?


*Colloquia*

*/Colloquium #1 – Autochthonous Cinema against Occupations [North America]/*

This first meeting will examine the filmic tactics developed by the 
autochthonous resistance movements in response to land spoliations and 
the extraction and transportation projects of the mining and petroleum 
industry. In their masterclasses, filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin of the 
Abenaki nation, activist and videographer Myron Dewey of the Newe-Numah 
and Paiute-Shoshone nations, and filmmaker Sky Hopinka of the Ho-Chunk 
and Pechanga nations, will reflect on the confrontations between 
autochthonous communities and armed forces in Oka, in 1990, and at 
Standing Rock, between 2015 and 2017. Both the Oka Crisis and the Dakota 
Access Pipeline protests at once lay bare the willingness of the 
government to forcefully deprive the autochthonous communities of their 
rights and demonstrate how employing filmic practices and media tactics 
allows the communities to represent themselves and their plight. The 
proposals for this section could focus on filmic practices developed 
during these ongoing struggles or on the diversity of filmic forms 
related to intertribal and pan-Amerindian political movements in North 
America.

*/Colloquium #2 – A Long View on Colonizing Practices and their Amnesia 
[Pacific/West Indies]/*

These two days will be dedicated to the constitution of a first 
cartography and chronology of filmic practices that document the ongoing 
autochthonous struggles in the regions historically marked by the 
colonial influence and practices of the United States. Collective 
amnesia regarding the colonial history of the Philippines will be the 
starting point of this colloquium. Filmmaker and professor of visual and 
media arts at Emerson College, John Gianvito will discuss the films 
where he explores the political and visual history of American 
imperialism. Activist Myrla Baldonado, one of the founders of the NGO 
People's Task Force for Bases Clean-Up (PTFBC) in the Philippines, will 
present the history of collective local and international mobilizations 
against the U.S. military bases Clark and Subic. The conversation will 
then be extended to all contemporary autochthonous struggles in the 
Pacific and the West Indies: Okinawa, Micronesia, Philippines, Hawaii, 
Puerto Rico. We are inviting proposals that will take an empirical or 
historical (from 1980 to today) perspective on those issues. Special 
attention will be given to proposals dealing with social mobilizations 
against American bases, on filmic practices of contemporary 
environmental struggles in the Pacific or Caribbean regions, as well as 
on insurgent movements in the southern Philippines.

*/Colloquium #3 – Autochthonous Futures, Our Future [Oceania/North 
America]/*

During this last meeting, we will reflect on the filmic, collective, and 
essayistic forms that represent the present-day experiences of 
autochthonous communities in contexts marked by the contamination of 
ancestral lands and the displacement of populations, and that also 
explore and employ alternative narratives, forms of history, and ideas 
of coexistence. Karrabing Film Collective will present its work borne of 
its community in Northern Australia, and filmmakers Lisa Rave and Erik 
Blinderman will talk about their investigation on Yucca Mountain, a 
Western Shoshone territory in Nevada, which has been the subject of a 
continuous colonization process since the Ruby Valley Treaty in 1863. As 
part of this discussion – extended to the autochthonous peoples of 
Oceania and North America – the proposals could consider filmic forms 
that document the intensive exploitation of natural resources and the 
threats it poses to both autochthonous and all of our futures. 
Presentations exploring filmic forms that incorporate the ideas of 
uchronia, utopia, and futurism will be appreciated.

*Two forms of presentation*


Our wish is to include in our discussions all possible voices. 
Therefore, this call is open to both academics and non-academics alike, 
to those who either study the issues related to this research project or 
those who are involved in and touched by the experiences of struggle. We 
thus welcome contributions that follow a traditional 20-minute academic 
presentation but also proposals for experimental forms where the 
author(s) have a wide range of means to convey ideas and experiences.

**

/*Academic presentations*/

Besides exploring the issues articulated above, or discussing the work 
of one of the invited filmmakers or collectives, the academic 
presentations may address one or several of the following themes:

    – Histories of filmic practices. A study of the practices and/or
    legacies (archival or other) of an individual filmmaker or an
    activist collective.

    – Empirical and ethnographic study of filmmaking, exhibition, and
    reception practices.

    – Issues and forms of ‘visual sovereignty’ (Michelle Raheja). Ethics
    of shooting, decision making processes relative to what and when can
    or cannot be represented (e.g. ceremonial rituals, behind-the-scenes
    deliberations).

    – Technical autonomy and technological sovereignty. Filmmaking and
    media production in situations marked by digital divide and in the
    conditions of surveillance and tracking across content and social
    media platforms.

    – Financing and distribution of films. Government funding,
    aboriginal media and television stations, self-financing, and the
    impact of these forms of production on filmmaking and the autonomy
    of the filmmakers.

    – Appropriation and adaptation of film and media technologies.
    Studies on past and “new ways to indigenizing film and technology
    through Indigenous Eyes” (Myron Dewey).

    – The historicity of images and their ability to capture the
    evolving conditions of autochthonous struggles. The capacity of
    films at once to document the urgency (occurrences of state
    violence) and to construct in the long run the vernacular memories
    of autochthonous struggles.

    – Sonic ecology of struggles. Oral histories, chants and protest
    songs in films.

    – Uchronia, utopia, futurism. The futures and alternative realities
    – imagined, forgotten, or reinvented by the filmic practices of
    autochthonous struggles.

*/Experimental forms /*

We invite proposals for experimental forms that can be constituted of 
media works (e.g. moving image, sound), involve a performance (e.g. 
monologue, dialogue, reenactment, dramatization). To encourage and 
facilitate the participation of those who are unable to travel to Paris, 
we also welcome proposals for performative forms that could be staged 
and directed from a distance following notes submitted by the author(s). 
For the latter, the author(s) would have at their disposal the bodies 
and voices of the organizers and participants of the colloquia and the 
entire space where the event takes place (depending on the day, a movie 
theater, a conference room).

The piece can last up to 20 minutes. The authors can use the language of 
their choice while the non-English works should be accompanied by an 
English translation. Thematically, the authors have complete freedom in 
their proposals as long as they touch upon the central concerns of this 
research project and follow the regional boundaries of one the three 
colloquia. For works to be directed from a distance, the organizers 
commit to discuss the directions/staging beforehand and, if necessary, 
organize a rehearsal. The performative forms could be filmed/recorded by 
the organizers following the authors’ instructions and within the 
technical means at our disposal. The unedited rushes will then be sent 
to the authors who can freely archive, edit, or distribute these materials.

The proposals for experimental forms should specify:

    – the form of the piece (sound recording, video, dialogue...);

    – the technical and/or human means necessary for the production of
    the piece (number of participants, props, technical requirements for
    the presentation of sound and moving images...);

    – a 300-word summary of the performance/stage piece;

    – if applicable, indications as to the recording and possible uses
    of the materials.

The authors should be aware of the aforementioned constraints, the 
specificity of the resources at their disposal, adapt their works to 
them accordingly, and keep in mind the importance of notations and 
instructions to be included with their final work if it is to be 
directed from a distance.

In order to ensure that the work be presented in the best possible 
conditions the final work should be received by the organizers *at the 
latest three weeks before the event*.

*Calendar and Practical Questions*

Please submit your proposal before *December 1, 2018*, to: 
(alopai /at/ hotmail.com) and (larcherj /at/ hotmail.fr). The proposals should specify 
the chosen colloquium, the presentation’s format (performance / video / 
academic presentation, etc.), include a summary of the academic 
presentation (500 words) or the experimental form (300 words), a short 
biographical note, and, if applicable, the human and/or technical means 
necessary for the production/presentation of the work. The participants 
will be notified of acceptance by *December 17, 2018*, and the final 
program will be published on *January 20, 2019*. We are unfortunately 
unable to provide financial aid, the participants will assume 
transportation and accommodation expenses. For any questions regarding 
the presentations please write to the email addresses above.

*Organizing committee *

– Nicole Brenez (La Fémis / Sorbonne Nouvelle)

– Daniel Cefaï (EHESS)

– Giovanni Careri (EHESS)

– Jonathan Larcher (EHESS)

– Sébastien Lechevalier (EHESS)

– Ricardo Matos Cabo (Independent film programmer)

– Alo Paistik (EHESS)

– Perrine Poupin (EHESS)

– Caroline San Martin (La Fémis)

– Skaya Siku (Academia Senica)

– Marko Tocilovac (EHESS)

– Barbara Turquier (La Fémis)

– Eric Wittersheim (EHESS)

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