Reflection on short documentaries
Presqu'ile by Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann:
The filmmaker constructs what resembles a dreamlike sequence through their integration of short clips, still photographs, and silence. These three elements combined, particularly the use moving images that linger on a subject/object for what feels like too long, have the ability of invoking contemplation within the viewer.What is especially dream like about the short documentary is the absence of sound during visuals where sound is always expected: flowers rustling in the wind, ripples on a surface of water; the filmmaker destroys our conventional expectations and refuses to provide the multi-dimensionality and complete sensorium normally experienced in cinema. Ndisi-Herrmann embraces their signature first-person, diary entry-like monologue, a straight forward way of creating an intimate, self-conscious narrative for the short film.
A Woman Like Me by Isabel Bondy
Without adhering to the rules of conventional documentary, the film manages to answer its own questions visually. When the deafblind Danish woman that we are introduced to describes her nightmare in distress, and wonders how anybody can live 'in the world that woman lives in', we are met with an image of the Nepalese deafblind woman surrounded by her family and community within the space of her home, as they snack on food together, touch and communicate with one another. The documentary emphasises the significance of community without the need for spoken word.
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