Longe-de-mim - Afrikanische Immigranten in Portugal. Ein Beitrag zur visuellen Anthropologie.

Abstract

In one video clip, two documentaries and three "fragments", African immigrants, and potential immigrants as well as actual emigrants form the former Portuguese colonies Sao Tome and Principe, Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde are accompanied by the camera in their daily lives in their countries of origin and their new home, Portugal. Their life stories are the basis of a reflection through film on immigration as a subject, and at the same time a reflection about the process of filmmaking within anthropology and the possibilities of intertwining film and text within an academic discipline. Through the interplay of images and words in an experimental fashion in the portrayal of the realities of the lives of the wanderers between two worlds, unexpected links are suggested among seemingly unconnected themes such as "bureaucracy", "witchcraft", or "corruption".Drawing on the practical experience of film making, the question of form during the transformation of artistic and scientific knowledge into film finally leads to the idea of "realism", and its relevance for the film-critical and visual anthropological discourse.