2025 Theses Bachelor's

Here And There: Collective Memory And Autoethnographic Filmmaking

Arredondo, Alexandra

This study examines how the use of home video techniques in personal documentary filmmaking transforms private, everyday recordings into tools for exploring identity and memory in the wake of displacement. It positions autoethnographic filmmaking as a method that goes beyond nostalgia, functioning as a kinship diagram in motion, where the camera becomes a storytelling tool that allows individuals facing physical, forced displacement to make sense of this departure and their identity in the aftermath. Unlike home videos, which are typically produced for private viewings within families, autoethnographic films are conscious of their status as a study of the self, accompanied by an observation of their environment. Through the integration of family audiovisual media, these films elevate personal documentation into a
deliberate method of filmmaking, bridging personal and collective memory.