DIY documentary filmmaking and cinema clubs: learning from Brazil

Exploring the relation between film and territory in conversation with members of the cinemaclub Mate Com Angu + DIY film festival tips! Held in the learning loft of the Wardlaw museum, this event welcomes members of Mate com Angu, a landmark cineclube in Rio de Janeiro, located in the Baixada Fluminense (Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), to St Andrews. Through their role as educators, filmmakers and core members of Mate com Angu, Igor Barradas and Heraldo HB are key contributors to the cultural landscape and the rich film culture of the Baixada. The cinemaclub has run since 2002 and recently hosted the fifth edition of its own festival in the region (cover image) of which Luisa Pitanga, cineclube member and visual anthropologist, was one of the curators (https://matecomangu.org/site/). During the workshop Barradas, HB and Pitanga will share how Mate com Angu’s history is interwoven with that of the Baixada, how it intervenes in representations of and approaches to its territory, as well as their role in the fight for popular cinematic education, cultural spaces and equipment in the peripheries of Rio. The exhibition of selected excerpts from their cinematic production will serve as seeds for this discussion. Drawing these threads together, this event will explore the political potential of cinema to intervene in how peripheries are represented and produced. The conversation will be framed by short presentations by Dr Victoria Adams on her research into the role of an innovative public policy called Cultura Viva (Living Culture) in supporting the work of collectives like Mate com Angu; and by Dr Mary Freedman on her research into audiovisual practices, representations and imaginaries in the Baixada. This event will include a short practical workshop for students on DIY film programming and festival organisation. St Andrews Centre for Screen Cultures ( Department of Film Studies), CAS / Centre for Amerindian, Latin American and Caribbean Studies (Department of Social Anthropology) and Institute for Museums, Heritage and Society (School of Art History) together with the British Academy have all generously supported this workshop.