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1981
Volume 37, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 1364-971X
  • E-ISSN: 1758-9150

Abstract

Drawing from Deleuze and Guattari’s geophilosophy, Patricia Pisters adopts the term ‘metallurgical’ to describe the filmmaking of contemporary directors of political cinema who exploit the unprecedented opportunities afforded by digital technology to recycle and remediate transnational visual archives. Similarly, in the light of Deleuze’s meditations on modern film in (1989), Pisters identifies metallurgical filmmaking with the ‘forging’ of a supra-national ‘world memory’ and a liberated ‘people to come’. My interest in this article is to ponder the extent to which these concepts might be useful for analysing the intermedial documentaries of Portuguese filmmaker, Susana de Sousa Dias (1962–present). More specifically, I am interested in exploring how Sousa Dias’ work with archival photographs of political prisoners in her early film (2005) might suggest both an ‘interruption’ of a chronological national history and, at the same time, an appeal to the suppressed social memory of a ‘missing people’ from Portugal’s dictatorial past. To elucidate this premise, I propose that the mugshots function as symbolic counterpoints to the transcontinental ‘patriotic masses’ of regime propaganda with which they are intercut in the film. By extension, I also propose that they evoke the de-individuated memorial consciousness associated with a ‘world memory’.

Resumo

A partir da geofilosofia de Deleuze e Guattari, Patricia Pisters emprega o termo ‘metalúrgico’ para descrever o trabalho dos cineastas contemporâneos que exploram as novas possibilidades tecnológicas para reciclar e restaurar digitalmente os arquivos visuais transnacionais. Da mesma forma, à luz dos conceitos propostos por Deleuze em , Pisters identifica o cinema metalúrgico com o ‘forjamento’ de uma ‘memória-mundo’ supranacional e de um ‘povo por vir’ libertado. O meu interesse neste artigo é ponderar em que medida estes conceitos podem ser úteis para analisar os documentários intermidiáticos da cineasta portuguesa Susana de Sousa Dias (n. 1962). Mais especificamente, interessa-me explorar como o trabalho de Sousa Dias com fotografias de cadastro de presos políticos no seu filme, (2005), pode sugerir uma ‘interrupção’ de uma história nacional cronológica bem como uma evocação de um ‘povo que falta’ do passado ditatorial português. A fim de elucidar esta premissa, proponho que as fotos de arquivo sirvam de contraponto simbólico às sequências propagandísticas das ‘massas patrióticas’ transcontinentais com as quais se intercalam no filme. Além disso, também proponho que evoquem uma consciência desindividualizada associada à ‘memória-mundo’.

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2024-03-28
2024-09-10
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