Documentary films have undergone various transformations and have been influenced by various movements, one of which is the Third Cinema movement, a cinematic style that emphasizes the production of films from the global south. The Third Cinema, which has evolved and had its iterations since the 1960s, has provided a continuous movement in the space of the cinema community that underscores its involvement in the struggles of the global south and is present as a statement of solidarity—which continues to this day. So how does the Third Cinema movement affect the meaning-making of documentary films today? To what extent are the narratives discussed through documentary cinema able to be accepted by many audiences?
To answer this question, Festival Film Dokumenter 2024 held a public discussion in the form of DOC Talk entitled Rhythm Chronicles. The discussion was held on November 4, 2024 at 15.00 WIB in Ruang Rapat Taman Budaya Yogyakarta and was attended by participants from various backgrounds and demographics. Leading the discussion were Veronika Kusumaryati, programmer of Perspektif and Rosalia Namsai Engchuan, programmer of Docs Docs: Short! Spatial Space. The discussion was facilitated by Sandeep Ray, a filmmaker, historian, and academic from the University of Nottingham Malaysia.
In this session, the audience explored the dynamics of filmmakers who approach documentary film as an art medium, where they have a supportive environment to create a space for innovation in presenting narratives and issues in the form of audiovisual arrangements with a variety of approaches. The first session was initiated by Veronika Kusumaryati who discussed the existence of the Third Cinema, derived from emancipatory efforts to fight the hegemony of colonialism. Veronika emphasized that the Third Cinema is crucial to be understood as a political movement, instead of being merely an alternative artistic genre. It is also important to understand Third Cinema as a language to analyze political phenomena.
Through the Perspektif program, Veronika curates films that address an extension of the Third Cinema movement under the umbrella of documentary film, from countries that are also known as forerunners of the Third Cinema movement. The films screened in this program are The Trial (El Juicio) (Ulises de la Orden, 2023), The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder (As Noites Ainda Cheiram a Pólvora) (Inadelso Cossa, 2024), and Fifth Cinema (Nguyễn Trinh Thi, 2018) which were respectively produced in Argentina, Mozambique, and Vietnam.
In the next session, Rosalia Namsai Engchuan added a more profound idea of cinema and the film screening process as a liminal space provider, which has a major role in establishing a productive corridor for sharing narratives from filmmakers, film subjects, and audiences. Rosalia emphasized a depiction of how film acts as a portal that not only makes the audience a witness, but also opens a path between the audience and the subject in the film, with a slightly different positioning from Veronika regarding the significance of cinema in composing social construction. She emphasizes that film in its position as a tool does not directly improve the lives of people who have been affected by colonization but can reveal layers that trigger interaction among audiences to produce ideas of resistance. However, this depends on the power that controls the behavior of cinema in a societal ecosystem.
With the development of a narration articulated through Docs Docs: Short! Spatial Space program, Rosalia curated four films, including City of Poets (Sara Rajaei, 2024), Object 817 (Olga Lucovnicova, 2024), No Exorcism Film (Komtouch Napattaloong, 2024), and Liberating Shipwreck (Simon Speiser, 2024).
In the following discussions, Sandeep explored the disputes between the two speakers who have two different approaches in interpreting the development of documentary films that are constantly challenging the boundaries of the definition of documentary, both in terms of artistic techniques, and its delivery of narratives that are dominated by the assumption of the need to show films with transparency and clarity of the burden of context. Rosalia argued that films do not have to be bound by text and context that must be explained literally and within the dynamics of documentary films. Some participants also sparked discussions that expand the space of the discussion topic by bringing up the comparison of the documentary film ecosystem to draw distinctions between the third cinema umbrella with its derivatives and Southeast Asian films before the presence of the third cinema wave itself. He also touched on how the practice of curating and programming the film itself was able to touch the rhythm of the narrative that wanted to be shown.
From this series of discussions, we are encouraged to search for answers to the questions about redefining the significance and meaning of documentary films and narrative treatments in our daily living spaces. Other discussions in DOC Talk are still available and will be held offline for free. Find related information on Festival Film Dokumenter 2024 website and all social media platforms.
Covered by Gantar Sinaga on 4 November 2024. (Ed. Vanis/Trans. Naufal Shabri)
