Matteo Saltalippi
dx.doi.org/10.12835/ve2023.1-120
Abstract
The paper explores the collaborative methods employed in
the making of an ethnographic film focused on the labour unrest at
the AST steel plant in Terni, central Italy. It provides an overview of the
fieldwork leading to the film production and focuses on the collabo
ration between anthropologist, filmmakers, and participants as well
as on positioning the film within the tradition of visual ethnography.
In doing so, the paper discusses the importance of acknowledging the
parallel existence and the inclusion of different visual methods when
working in a mutable fieldwork and making a film that can be consid
ered ethnographic, close to the participants’ visual representation, and
able to speak to both an academic and a wider general audience with
particular attention for the research participants.
Keywords
Ethnographic films, labour, collaboration, documentary, filmmaking.
