Wednesday, May 11, 5-6:30pm
Department of Anthropology, 25 Waverly Place, Kriser Sreening Room, ground floor
LOOKING THROUGH THE INVISIBLE: Cinema as a Shamanic Translation
Lecture by Andre Brasil (Visiting scholar, NYU; Department of Communication, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil)
What happens when the phenomenological machine of the cinema meets the shamanic machine of Indigenous South American groups or when the cinematic tradition encounters other traditions with an altogether different conception of ‘the image’? Featuring clips from films made by Indigenous directors and collectives in Brazil, communications scholar Andre Brasil situates the place of cinema within specific Amazonian shamanic systems. This talk considers the off-screen space — that which is not visible in the mise-en-scene but affect its — and how it fosters communication among humans, animals and spirits.