Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

There is no doubt that local research can and should have a significant global impact. Taking indigenous filmmaking from Colombia as a case study, this paper looks at practice-based research as a transcultural communication strategy. Investigating its successes and failures, it provides a contemporary comment on new directions for arts and humanities in a global context. Local research methods which will be discussed in this paper consist of ethnographic approach with interviews and direct participation/collaboration with the indigenous filmmakers from the Zhigoneshi Collective. This paper will discuss examples of Zhigoneshi filmmaking from the last decade, such as ‘Resistance on the Black Line’, dir. Amado Villafaña, ‘Nabusímake, Memories of the resistance’ by the same director, and ‘Sey Arimaku: The Other Darkness’, also signed by the collective. Finally, the paper explores the politics of representation and the ownership of the image proposed by the Zhigonesi Collective as a way to contribute to the intercultural exchange of local knowledge.