Ninth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have formed a geo-economic alliance aimed to advance trade and global development in each of these regions through mutually shared interests. While the economic index of BRICS is clear, the political and cultural impact of the shared economy has been of little consideration. How do these countries view and understand each other’s histories and cultures given their linguistic differences and diversity across vast geographic regions coupled with sharp class and socio-political differences within their countries as well. Filmmakers explore various cultural, historical and linguist questions using film practices as artistic research to explore the impact of BRICS from the “ground up” and through film and visual culture exposure. It is important to recognise that this is neither a documentary project nor an exercise in visual ethnography, instead the space is to create a way of exploring research questions and artistic practices through a close interrogation of film grammars in each of these disparate regions in the world. Film is mobilised as research practice as opposed to its historically grounded role as a recording device or a storytelling medium. Over the course of 2018, workshops will be implemented in each region hosted by a film education institution in each BRICS location. I will show case studies from each region to offer observations and pose some theoretical and conceptual issues that emerge from this form of research and artistic practice in film. One of the central concerns in my research as a scholar and practitioner is with film grammar(s) and the way modes in film (visual structure) can produce critical observation, critique and analysis that is exclusive of written exegesis.