26 March – 4 April, 2021. Docudays UA IHRDFF
Interactive online program of amateur short documentaries provided with interactive subtitles-comments by researchers.
All films from the programme were available to watch at docuspace.org.
Main photo: a still from the film The Coming of the ‘Camerons’.
What is the value of amateur cinema? How should we watch amateur films? What is special about this or that movie? This year’s Docudays UA special interactive online programme is dedicated to the amateur cinema of two countries: Scotland, where ‘unofficial’ films have become an important cultural phenomenon, and Ukraine, where research interest in vernacular cinema has grown over the past few years.
The distances that have emerged in our quarantine life over the past year have exposed our vulnerabilities: the more globalised a certain area is, the greater losses it faces. Cancelled film festivals, closed cinemas, filming put on hold – the global film industry has proved to be very fragile in the new environment. However, numerous particular practices have gained new potential — for instance, vernacular cinema.
From short videos on social networks to meaningful feature films made of private ‘quarantine’ video logs, amateur videos and films have become an important way to understand the new conditions of everyday life, cope with the tragic challenges of a difficult year, and express support for each other. The small cameras in our gadgets are no longer a novelty, but hardly ever before was the opportunity to take unprofessional pictures of yourself, your relatives and your neighbours such a sensual and powerful way of solidarity. In October 1960, in an introduction to his traditional Movie Journal column called ‘On Film Troubadours’ in the Village Voice, Jonas Mekas wrote: “Films will soon be made as easily as written poems, and almost as cheaply. They will be made everywhere and by everybody. The empires of professionalism and big budgets are crumbling.” However — almost half a century later — what do we know about amateur cinema?
We usually talk about amateur film as something that loses value outside of a family circle or a circle of friends. It doesn’t matter if these are diary entries or amateur director’s works: such films seem to be pushed to the periphery of the developed industry with its professional education and unions. At the same time, it is amateurism that has historically often been a conscious gesture of resistance to commercialisation, political protest, the struggle for freedom, self-identification, and so on.
The first European filmmaking associations, which began to emerge in the mid-1920s, or the first festivals such as the Scottish Amateur Film Festival, established in 1933, were just like that — disagreeing with the industrialisation of cinema. Magazines and books on amateur filming, convenient and affordable amateur cameras and film stocks began to appear… During the turbulent twentieth century with its tragedy of grand narratives, vernacular cinema became an interesting phenomenon which spoke about historical contexts and expanded the language of cinema no less than the big-screen masterpieces. In this sense, the plots and shooting methods in amateur films are often more important than the frames themselves.
‘Film Troubadours: Scotland and Ukraine’ is a special interactive online programme. On the one hand, it aims to give the floor to amateurs in love with moving images, and to troubadours who sing movies and watch everyday life through the camera lens; and on the other hand, to create an opportunity to comprehend the national stories of the twentieth century through the prism of personal stories. Scotland represents the Western world with its upholding of the right to privacy and freedom of opinion, while Ukraine bears the imprint of a long period spent as a part of the Soviet Union’s totalitarian regime. The first country traces its history of amateur cinema back to the first third of the twentieth century, while the second captures the heyday of amateur cinema in the ‘60s, when the ‘Quartz’ camera hits store shelves. After all, different ideological socio-cultural coordinates determine the excellent, and in their way beautiful national amateur cinematography.
The programme consists of two selections of short documentaries: Scottish and Ukrainian. Both cover the period from the early 1940s in Scotland to the late 1980s in Ukraine, focusing on essential generalisations — techniques and elements typical for Scottish film amateurism, and the evolution of a Ukrainian amateur author, starting from traditional diary entries to poetic statements. Both collections have been co-curated by Docudays UA with two invited curators: Oleksandr Makhanets, the head of the Urban Media Archive of the Centre for Urban History in Lviv, and Annamaria Motrescu-Mayes, the founder of the Amateur Cinema Studies Network, a researcher of vernacular cinema, lecturer, and Proctor of the Clare Hall, University of Cambridge. For each of the short films selected, we have created interactive subtitles – these are professional commentaries from the invited researchers that will deepen the understanding of the film and its context. While watching the movies from this programme, you will notice the active tags appearing at certain moments of the video. These are the clickable areas that can be either ignored or expanded into a text commentary. The commentaries for Scottish films were developed by Heather Norris Nicholson, an Honorary Fellow of the University of Huddersfield and Manchester Metropolitan University; and Graeme Spurr, a lecturer in Academic Support at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts, London. The Ukrainian films are equipped with exploratory interactive subtitles from curator Oleksandr Makhanets, and a number of films also contain special audio commentaries by the films’ authors.
The project’s programme will be available for viewing by the festival audience on a free basis, without geographical restrictions. During the festival week from 27 March to 4 April, new movies from the Scottish and Ukrainian selections will appear daily on docuspace.org; each of the movies will be available for 48 hours. The programme was created with the support of the British Council in Ukraine and in partnership with the Centre for Urban History of East Central Europe.
Program’s trailer:
Program
The Tweed, dir. J. Gray, Scotland — United Kingdom, 1936, 28’
The film follows the course of the river Tweed from source to sea, showing the traditions and industries associated with Border country. It includes agricultural practices, fishing, tweed-making, historical abbeys and celebrations.
The film combines footage from 1936, 1938, 1943 years.
The Coming of the ‘Camerons’, dir. Frank M. Marshall, Scotland — United Kingdom, 1944, 10’
The film follows Glen Clova postwoman Jean Cameron on her bicycle rounds and documents the introduction of the ‘Camerons’ — uniform trousers for post women. They were named after Jean, who started the fashion after requesting trousers instead of the regulation skirt.
Highly commended in the 1945 competition of the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers.
Build Me Straight, Gosford Films, Scotland — United Kingdom, 1963, 15’
Building a wooden fishing boat. The draftsman is seen working on the plans, then we see the men in the yard slowly building the vessel up from the keel. Finally the boat is launched and taken out to sea.
Winner of the Amateur Cine World Ten Best Competition Gold Star Award.
Give Us a Goal, dir. Tom Clark, Scotland — United Kingdom, 1972, 14’
Mike Jackson, footballer, training with Queen of the South and Clydebank football clubs.
Entered in the Amateur section of the Cannes Film Festival 1973 and the Scottish Amateur Film Festival.
Escape to Freedom, dir. Mr Coleman Dec’d or Lanark Cine Club, Scotland — United Kingdom, 1981, 35’
An amateur documentary about the arrival of Vietnamese refugee families at Kersewell College in Lanarkshire, before their eventual resettlement in different parts of Scotland. It includes interviews with refugees about their experiences escaping from Vietnam and adapting to a new life in Scotland.
Greg’s Film Tapes, dir. Hryhorii Porytskyi, Ukrainian SSR, 1981, 15’
In 1970s, Hryhorii Porytskyi (Greg) was one of the central figures of the hippie movement in Lviv and a participant in the Holy Garden Republic, a nonconformist youth group, which used to gather in the centre of Lviv, in the abandoned garden of the Discalced Carmelites’ cloister. The free-spirited youth listened to Western rock music, created artworks, and organised several all-Union hippie sessions. Their activities were in fact regarded as dissident and supportive of anti-Soviet Western tendencies. These film tapes by Greg are dedicated to the company’s home parties, discussions, collective strolls etc.
Untitled, dir. Yurii Kondratenko, Ukrainian SSR, 1982, 14’
Poetic and romantic amateur footage of a young couple in the garden and on a trip — one reel contains several tapes that have been glued together. The film features the author’s audio commentary.
Walking with Dogs, dir. Volodymyr Trushkevych, Ukrainian SSR, 1978, 13’
There are many types of dogs: small and big, shaggy and almost sleek, merry, calm, and angry. However, all of them have the ability to bring together groups of people, giving them a chance to walk around. This formally simple documentation of such walks invites the viewer to reflect on the surroundings. The film features the author’s audio commentary.
Welcome to Moldova, dir. Serhii Pashchenko, Ukrainian SSR, 1980, 9’
Traditional footage of a family trip to the countryside turns into a dynamic film about distances. By filming his son, who is holding a ‘Welcome to Moldova’ poster, the author changes the structure of the film and transforms the poster itself into a vivid narrative element. The film features the author’s audio commentary.
Son, dir. Volodymyr Duda, Ukrainian SSR, 1977, 8’
At first, ordinary home footage of a man’s newborn son has been revisited and restructured into a documentary film by its author, Volodymyr Duda. Many years later, the film will be supplemented with a soundtrack especially written by that same son, now grown up — Yurko Duda, from the band Plach Yeremii.
Encounters, dir. Ihor Kozak, Ukrainian SSR, 1982, 13’
A spy film, which resulted from shooting a friends’ meeting with a hidden camera. Having persuaded his acquaintances to play a trick on his friends he was supposed to meet at the railway station in Vilnius, the filmmaker hires a taxi to film his experiment from the car. The film features the author’s audio commentary.
The Tree, dir. Viktor Kyzyma, Ukrainian SSR, 1987, 9’
The film was produced at an amateur film studio in Kirovohrad region. Its author is Viktor Kyzyma, a local film enthusiast and activist. His movie features a portrait of a folk craftsman who indulges in his hobby after hours. On the one hand, this portrayal of a worker’s life is typical of socialist realism; on the other hand, the film presents a romantic image of country life in harmony with nature and socialist reality.
Profession: Restorer, dir. Liliia Volkova, Ukrainian SSR, 1986, 15’
The professional’s portrait: an employee of the Lviv Art Gallery made a film about a restorer who’s been working on a 15th-century icon for almost a year. While this film is an important narrative of Lviv’s local context, it is also a story about passing time and thorough work on a small artwork.
My Weekend, dir. Orest Bachmaha, Ukrainian SSR, 1978, 14’
Orest Bachmaha is a unique film enthusiast and artist. Apart from films, he used to make his own video cameras and projectors. His films mostly focus on the documentation of nature and the environment. My Weekend features sophisticated techniques of film tape processing and a creative poetic narrative about freedom.
Also on the program: discussion ‘Film Troubadours: Archivation and Actualisation of Amateur Films.’
