The research “80mm” project aims to deal with family films – in particular those made between 1920 and 2000- which are to be found in private and domestic audiovisual archives in the Modena area. The home movie visual document represents a trace of personal memory and historical time, space of self-representation of family, gender and parental relations in a social context with its specific cultural and aesthetic canons. The study of kinship has its roots in the history of anthropology, so much so that its centrality in the discipline has been considered as a sign of changes, turning points, comebacks and reinterpretations. Despite the great importance held in anthropological research by visual tools (ethnographic photography, films and new media), analyses of family films have found little space in the debate on representations of kinship and family, mostly remaining confined to studies of the sociology of the image and historical and semiotic readings. A project that considers documents of family self-representation produced “from below” such as home movies is therefore an opportunity to cross disciplinary approaches around social sciences and humanities and explore new areas of research.

Persons interested in participating in the formation of this archive may contact A. Gribaldo (Scientific Responsible): alessandra.gribaldo@unimore.it

Call for 1 Senior Research Fellowship – 80′ mm Project