VIRTUAL: Prague Heritages

Abstract

Online access to cultural heritage has opened new opportunities for filmmakers to discover and tell interesting stories about the past. Digitization has made it easy to explore collections in galleries, libraries, archives and museums and make use of old photographs, artworks, prints, manuscripts, letters and diaries. But how can film schools better teach moving image production to students who want to make the past visible? At DAVA (Dalarna Audiovisual Academy) I have developed two freestanding courses on historical documentary production, where novices – cultural heritage enthusiasts and professionals, photographers, journalists, museum curators and others – strengthen their practical filmmaking competencies through a close collaboration with professional documentary filmmakers. In these part-time online courses, students learn to mediate history through the creation of short historical documentaries which combine narration, archive material and newly filmed clips. The curriculum breaks down the documentary production process into clearly defined steps, enhancing students’ ability to gain in creative and technical confidence. Students and teachers meet on Zoom in small seminar groups every week to discuss and review the ongoing work. I would also like to present my own research as filmmaker. Besides being a Senior Lecturer Image Production in Dalarna I’m also affiliated to the Centre for Nordic Studies, Helsinki university, where I am currently writing a PhD in history on race biology, photography and collaboration over national borders within the scientific network for racial hygiene from 1910 to 1935. I’m also making historical documentary film on the same topic. In this project I examine the special possibilities of the film medium to explore and bring history to life. I find myself at the intersection of artistic research and academic research. From this position in between, I examine how how filmmaking can contribute to the understanding of history.