Diary of autumn school

Colleagues from the Moscow, Samara, Saratov, and Sverdlovsk regions, as well as the republics of Altai and Tatarstan, met for the first time in an online format at the opening of the Fall School "Cinema as a mediator: Cinematic images in participatory social research and practice".

On October 30, the first event was also held - a lecture on "The Evolution of Approaches and Challenges of Visual Anthropology. The door to the history of visual research was opened to the participants by Elena Iarskaia-Smirnova, Head of the International Laboratory of Social Integration Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. She told how the ideas of studying visual data through the prism of social sciences developed, and what roles sociologists played in artistic projects that drew attention to various social groups and their problems. Participants were first able to express themselves in online discussions, as well as briefly introduce themselves and share their research interests.

Then, independent researcher Maria Borzenko gave a lecture on "Death of the Author as the First Step to Inclusive Representation". She presented archetypes of a person with a disability found in cinematography and gave numerous examples from feature films and cartoons. The researcher paid special attention to the artistic means by which these archetypes are visually embodied, the lecture was held in a friendly atmosphere. The participants shared their findings, noted certain stereotypes and patterns in themselves and in pop culture, and turned to films together.

With these lectures, the participants began their journey into the world of cinematic reflections of otherness, inclusion and related research. Over the coming week, participants got to know each other better, discussed what they had heard, formed working groups and familiarized themselves with additional materials.

And this is only the preliminary stage of the Fall School, designed to give a theoretical minimum for the best group work at the Field Stage!

In the first presentation, "Cinema as a form of expanding human experience: enlightenment, partisanship and empathy. The Birth of Ethnographic Cinema," the professor analyzed the merits and limitations of cinema's expressive means for conveying an unusual, unfamiliar human experience to the viewer. Beginning with more general examples and even the history of cinema as a phenomenon, the lecturer then focused on examples of ethnographic cinema. He paid special attention to the psychological theory of empathy and the analysis of theories of film perception, and touched on YouTube and the democratization of film production in today's "maker economy."

The second lecture, entitled "Cinema and Actionism: the Experience of Early Soviet Cinema," connected the concept of actionism with the history of early Soviet cinema. Special attention was paid to the relationship between art and political action, as well as the role of cinema in shaping public opinion.

Mutually complementing each other, the lectures on November 8 brought not only anthropological and artistic, but also socio-political meanings to the school's discourse. Once again, the participants had a week of reflection, communication, and refinement of the topics raised.

During the time spent together in rich discussions, master classes and creative experiments, the participants were fully immersed in the topic of inclusion and participatory approach in cinematography. The first event of the in-person stage was a lecture by Elena Iarskaia-Smirnova on diversity and inclusion in cinema. It discussed paradoxes such as "exclusionary inclusion" and "inclusive exclusion". It also touched upon the factors of forming an "inclusive consumer", the influence of cinema on the values and attitudes of the viewer. The audience learned about ways of assessing and measuring the "inclusiveness" of cinema, true and imaginary forms of inclusiveness of film decisions.

Artem Munitsyn, coordinator of the "Cinema without Barriers" festival, gave a lecture on "Cinema as a motivational tool for self-realization". The topic was revealed using examples from the movie "30000 Blows", which tells the story of Rustam Nabiev, a man who lost both his legs but did not give up the idea of conquering Mount Elbrus. However, this story was just an illustration for a broader discussion on the opportunities and ways of showing people with disabilities.

The lecture was followed by a panel discussion on the differences between congenital and acquired disabilities. One of the central questions of the discussion was, "What can help a person with a disability to self-actualize?" Participants discussed how overcoming barriers by people with disabilities affects society, and how this experience can be scaled to people without disabilities. 

The creative charge received from the day's presentations was very useful for the School participants in the upcoming project-collaborative part.

In the lecture "Work on recording video interviews on the example of the project 'My Gulag'", she spoke about the development and features of the methodology of filming within the framework of the project dedicated to the repressions of the Soviet years, and also shared personal stories from the experience of working with wards, making films about them and the volunteers working with them.

The project "My Gulag" began in 2013 in order to actualize the memory of Soviet repressions. It affects the fate of thousands of people and representatives of various social groups, including the dispossessed and their children, the deported, NKVD officers and many others. Much attention was paid to the description of the "oral history" method. It has some limitations, but it provides an invaluable opportunity to immerse yourself in the individual experience of each person.

After the lecture, a film screening with a discussion was waiting for the participants of the school in the large assembly hall. Olesya Khoroshikh presented the film "Free Days" from the social volunteer center of the GULAG History Museum. The lecturer shared stories from the life of the center and the peculiarities of working in it, and also emphasized the role of volunteers in organizing events, working with documents and memories. Even at the coffee break, the discussion of the film with Olesya did not stop.

Olesya Khoroshikh called the documentary cinematography a "time machine". And in the evening, a screening with a discussion of the film "In the Hands of Summer" was held under the guidance of the chief researcher of the Center for Visual Anthropology of the IEA RAS, Elena Danilko. And it turned out that cinema is able to carry us not only through time, but also through the barriers of different cultural traditions. A film created as part of the ethnographic expedition of the Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, introduces the viewer to the wonderful world of traditions and art of the Miass Old Believers, and also leads to an understanding of modern challenges and problems faced by representatives of this culture.

And one more speech, from the invited lecturer of the Higher School of Economics Andrey Andreev was devoted to the sociological analysis of cinema, its structure and design. The discussion of ethics issues became memorable for many after watching an emotional excerpt from Claude Lanzman's film "Shoah". Memories of him surfaced in discussions of other films for several more days.

From the analysis of the film as a whole, the lecturer moved on to non-fiction cinema, and then considered the issues of media convergence. He vividly illustrated the latter concept with the example of Kevin Rubio's fan film "Troops", where stormtroopers from the "Star Wars" universe were put in the conditions of shooting a reality show about police work.

Targeted universalism is aimed at building a just society and includes practices focused on giving different groups equal chances. From definitions, the lecturer moved on to the possibilities of transition to targeted universalism, in steps from studying data about groups to implementing specific strategies for working with them.  The presentation included a joint discussion and identification of possible target groups, limitations of the targeted approach and unexpected side effects that it can have. The lecturer touched upon the problem of small social groups and gave examples of successful implementation of the principles of diversity, equality, inclusion and a sense of belonging in the practice of DEIB.

Next, Elena Danilko, Chief Researcher of the Center for Visual Anthropology of the IEA RAS, delivered a lecture "From Soviet Ethnographic Cinema to Russian Visual Anthropology". She touched on various aspects of the topic, starting with kulturfilm (i.e. images of tribes and peoples) in the Soviet era and ending with modern visual anthropology. The lecturer examined the influence of the national policy of the 1920s on the portrayal of ethnic diversity in cinema. Kulturfilm appears as an antagonist to the generalized, universal image of the Soviet man, in which there is no place for bright national differences. At the end of the lecture, the genre of "travelogue", or travel film, was discussed as a kind of "ethnographic" cinema claiming to be unbiased.

In addition to lectures, the schedule of the day included screenings and discussions of two films. The first, "Brigade" about the work of reindeer herders in Yamal from the classic of social anthropology Liivo Niglas. Elena Danilko, who acted as the head and moderator of the discussion, pointed out the special role of the camera and the director and suggested discussing the level of inclusion of cinema in social reality. The participants of the school responded to the film with interest and warmth, noting the respectful attitude of the authors to the interlocutors, and the absence of meta-included music. From the discussion of the film, the discussion turned to the discussion of the life of indigenous peoples and their problems in general.

The discussion of the second film, "The Source of the Soul", was led by Alexey Obukhov, a leading expert of the Pinsky Center for General and Additional Education, the HSE Institute of Education. The film is dedicated to Valentin Dmitrievich from the Shevelev family, a representative of the dynasty of masters of the Kargopol toy, who celebrated his 85th anniversary. The topic for discussion was both the personal qualities of the master and the versatility of his creative interests and the fate of folk crafts in the modern world.

The first performance was presented by the screenwriter, playwright and journalist Polina Sineva. In her lecture "How to talk about the deaf community in cinema?" she raised interesting questions about representation, the use of sign language and the choice of actors. The lecturer told about three main concepts of deafness: medical, social and cultural. She also drew the listeners' attention to the diversity in the deaf community, including the deaf, hard of hearing, late deaf, CODA and deafblind. Examples from films and TV series were used to illustrate each concept. Special attention in the lecture was paid to mistakes in the representation of sign language in cinema and ways to avoid these mistakes – both through the selection of actors and through proper work with the camera (for example, refusing to show the face separately from the hands).

Then the participants went to the master class "Looking and seeing are not the same thing" from Alexey Obukhov, a leading expert of the A.A. Pinsky Center for General and Additional Education of the HSE Institute of Education. In this rich and interactive event, the participants experienced different perception features and distortions that occur with different focus of attention, when different sensory perception channels are "turned off" and simply when observing practices whose context is unknown to the viewer.

After the break, Alexey Obukhov gave a lecture "The possibilities and limitations of the study of modern ritual practices by visual means." The lecturer spoke about the creation of ethnographic cinema with an emphasis on the problems of editing, the ratio of myth and ritual and the problems of visual fixation of complex ritual complexes. The participants of the School had the opportunity to see the unique materials collected during the expeditions.

The day continued with discussions after the screenings of the films "Good Friday in Winamoto" and "Peremekh", also held under the leadership of Alexey Obukhov. In the first film, Alexey and his team tried to convey the role of rituals in the life of indigenous peoples, the lecturer stressed the need for an anthropologist to remember that his experience and perception may differ from traditional ideas. The second film became an illustration for a story about fantasy children's games on the example of a mysterious "Peremekh", into the world of which researchers were lucky enough to look. A striking feature of the film is the narration through the stories of the participants of the game themselves, which is rarely found in works on the topic of children's games.

For example, one of the project groups analyzed film materials devoted to helping professions and, based on the results, formulated recommendations for the representation of doctors, rescuers, firefighters, and social workers in films. The participants in this group noted the downside of heroization - deprivation of subjectivity and objectification. According to the speakers, a more successful image of people of helping professions in the movies can be created if we emphasize their humanity. Movie heroes do not have to be sublimely dramatic, they can make mistakes and be imperfect, and their personality should be revealed not only through work.

Another presentation was devoted to the image of indigenous people of the North in movies. This image is born at the intersection between stereotypes and the realities of an exclusive urban environment in which they seem foreign. The participants searched for a balance between these extremes and illustrated their search with examples from cinema.

The project on contemporary Tatar cinema dealt with a somewhat similar theme. It was about films showing positive ways of building and maintaining one's identity in the city as a means of overcoming the uncertainty of an ethnic minority's position and sense of self. The speakers went beyond the topic and gave examples of representation of not only Tatar but also other ethnic identities.

Another project dealt with the representation of the image of the elderly. The participants of the working group considered many examples of such representations from Russian and foreign film environments, identified the main archetypes and tried to contrast them with unsuccessful examples to identify "good practices" of such representation. They also touched upon the connections between cinema and real-life social projects working with older people, and suggested several ways for researchers of this topic to make a practical contribution to society.

Finally, a project on racism was presented, which the speakers problematized as "soft" and "quiet". After reminding the audience of the basic concepts of discrimination in general, they moved on to talk about the norms and stereotypes that permeate various aspects of life and the role of educational and training institutions in the reproduction of these stereotypes. 

Invited experts, who had previously lectured at the School, gave feedback on each project. Thanks to their advice on further development of topics, there is an opportunity to improve and finalize the presented ideas to full-scale research.