Female Authorship and the Documentary Image: Theory, Practice and Aesthetics

by Boel Ulfsdotter (Editor), Anna Backman Rogers (Editor)

Overview

This book, like its twin volume Female Authorship and Documentary Strategies, centres on pressing issues in relation to female authorship in contemporary documentary practices. Addressing the politics of representation and authorship both behind and in front of the camera, a range of international scholars now expand the theoretical and practical framework informing the current scholarship on documentary cinema, which has so far neglected questions of gender.

Female Authorship and the Documentary Image engages with the relationship between female documentary filmmakers and the documentary image. With a thematic focus on the documentary image directly, within the more traditional arenas of theory and practice and especially within the context of gaze and author theory, the book also considers more philosophical questions of aesthetics, home and identity within the contexts of female subjectivity, globalisation and trauma. The book also includes a dialogue on two key photographers, Hannah Wilke and Jo Spence, as well as an interview with Taiwanese documentary filmmakers Singing Chen and Wuna Wu.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474431750
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	08/07/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Boel Ulfsdotter is an independent scholar of Media Aesthetics and Visual Culture, currently affiliated with the Department of Cultural Sciences at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Anna Backman Rogers is a Senior Lecturer in Feminist Philosophy and Visual Culture at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vii

Notes on the Contributors ix

Foreword Belinda Smaill xiii

Introduction Boel Ulfsdotter Anna Backman Rogers 1

Part 1 Documentary Practices

1 Women in the Director's Chair: The 'Female Gaze' in Documentary Film Lisa French 9

2 New Day Films: Collective Aesthetics and the Collection Elizabeth Coffman Erica Stein 22

3 More Than One Sharon Daniel 40

Interview: 'The Final Projects of Hannah Wilke and Jo Spence' - A Dialogue between Elena Crippa and Anna Backman Rogers 66

Part 2 Documentary Theories

4 The Feminist Voice: Improvisation in Women's Autobiographical Filmmaking Gabrielle McNally 75

5 Speaking About or Speaking Nearby? Documentary Practice and Female Authorship in the films of Kim Longinotto Rona Murray 90

6 A Politics of Nearness: Uses of Montage and Haptics in Documenting Cultural Experiences of Communities of India Aparna Sbarma 107

Part 3 Female Authorship and Global Identities

7 The Other, The Same: Towards a Metamodern Poetics with Heddy Honigmann Annelies van Noortwijk 127

8 The Memories of Belleville Baby: Autofiction as Evidence Boel Ulfsdotter 144

9 To::For::By::About::With::From:: Towards Solid Women: On (not) Being Addressed by Tracey Moffatt's Moodeijt Yorgas Sophie Mayer 159

10 Constructing an Intimate Sphere through her Own Female Body: Naomi Kawase's Documentary Films Wakae Nakane 171

11 Celebrity/Activist/Photographer: Mia Farrow Catherine Summerhayes 186

'Being a Woman Documentary Maker in Taiwan' - An interview with Singing Chen and Wuna Wu Chris Berry 205

Select Bibliography 214

Index 217

What People are Saying About This

This book serves as map and compass in the first concerted investigation of a crucial field of documentary studies as yet severely neglected. Mobilising a range of dynamic conceptual frameworks, it brings major paradigm shifts into focus, with compelling insights into women’s documentary production globally and timely directions for future explorations.

University College Cork Professor Laura Rascaroli

This book serves as map and compass in the first concerted investigation of a crucial field of documentary studies as yet severely neglected. Mobilising a range of dynamic conceptual frameworks, it brings major paradigm shifts into focus, with compelling insights into women’s documentary production globally and timely directions for future explorations.

Editorial Reviews

This book serves as map and compass in the first concerted investigation of a crucial field of documentary studies as yet severely neglected. Mobilising a range of dynamic conceptual frameworks, it brings major paradigm shifts into focus, with compelling insights into women’s documentary production globally and timely directions for future explorations.

UniversityCollege Cork Professor Laura Rascaroli