The 11th RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film

Workshop (participatory youth film)

Participatory Youth Film Workshop

11:30, Thursday 02nd July, Theatre C

Similar in orientation to ‘Indigenous Media,’ which has now informed ethnographic film practice and theory for a generation, an increasing number of visual anthropologists, filmmakers and organizations are using the methods of Participatory Video (PV) to work with subject groups, in particular, with children and young people.  Facilitated by affordable technology, PV is used in myriad settings as both a process of learning and exchange of ideas, as well as producing a final filmic product, which may be circulated to other sites.

This invited panel will use examples of current academic practice using PV in order to explore how PV processes can further ethnographic insight in filmmaking and research.  Given the increasing use of PV methodologies with children and young people, this panel will also focus on the unique challenges and possibilities afforded by working with these groups.  With current examples of PV-produced films to draw on, the speakers will explore both the problems and benefits that arise from attempts to widen authorship over ethnographic filmmaking.