Ethnofiction refers to a subfield of ethnography which produces works that introduces art, in the form of storytelling, "thick descriptions and conversational narratives", and even first-person autobiographical accounts, into peer-reviewed academic works. In addition to written texts, the term has also been used in the context of filmmaking, where it refers to ethnographic docufiction, a blend of documentary and fictional film in the area of visual anthropology. It is a film type in which, by means of fictional

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional ( memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller Thriller may r ...

or creative imagination, often improvising, the portrayed characters ( natives) play their own roles as members of an

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

or social group. Jean Rouch is considered to be the father of ethnofiction. An ethnologist, he discovered that a filmmaker interferes with the event he registers. His camera is never a ''candid camera''. The behavior of the portrayed individuals, the natives, will be affected by its presence. Contrary to the principles of Marcel Griaule, his mentor, for Rouch a non-participating camera registering "pure" events in ethnographic research (like filming a

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, b ...

without interfering with it) is a preconception denied by practice. An ethnographer cameraman, in this view, will be accepted as a natural partner by the actors who play their roles. The cameraman will be one of them, and may even be possessed by the

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed ...

of dancers during a ritual celebration and induced in a state of ''cine-

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

''. Going further than his predecessors, Jean Rouch introduces the

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...

as a tool in research. A new genre was born. Robert Flaherty, a main reference for Rouch, may be seen as the grandfather of this

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other ...

, although he was a pure documentary maker and not an ethnographer. Being mainly used to refer to ethnographic films as an object of visual anthropology, the term ethnofiction is as well adequate to refer to experimental documentaries preceding and following Rouch's oeuvre and to any fictional creation in human communication, arts or literature, having an ethnographic or social background.

History

Parallel to those of Flaherty or Rouch, ethnic portraits of hard local realities are often drawn in Portuguese films since the thirties, with particular incidence from the sixties to the eighties, and again in the early 21st century. The remote Trás-os-Montes region (see: Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro Province in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ), ...

or the

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

islands (ancient Portuguese colonies), which step in the limelights from the eighties on thanks to the work of certain directors ( Flora Gomes, Pedro Costa, or Daniel E. Thorbecke, the unknown author of Terra Longe) are themes for pioneering films of this genre, important landmarks in film history. Arousing fiction in the heart of

ethnicity An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

is something current in the Portuguese popular narrative ( oral literature): in other words, the traditional attraction for

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

and surrealistic imagery in popular arts inspires certain Portuguese films to strip off realistic predicates and become poetical fiction. This practice is common to many fictional films by Manoel de Oliveira and João César Monteiro and to several docufiction hybrids by

António Campos António Campos (29 May 1922 – 8 March 1999) was one of the pioneer filmmakers of visual anthropology in Portugal. Mainly using pure documentary techniques, he shot ethnographic films and tried docufiction. As well as in fictional films, ...

, António Reis and others. Since the 1960s, ethnofiction (local real life and fantasy in one) is a distinctive mark of Portuguese cinema.

Chronology

1910s

* 1914 – ''

In the Land of the Head Hunters ''In the Land of the Head Hunters'' (also called ''In the Land of the War Canoes'') is a 1914 silent film fictionalizing the world of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples of the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Cana ...

'' by Edward S. Curtis,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

1920s

* 1926 – '' Moana'' by Robert Flaherty, US

1930s

* 1930 – ''

Maria do Mar ''Maria do Mar'' is a 1930 Portuguese silent drama film, a docufiction, directed by Leitão de Barros. In March 2000, the Portuguese Cinematheque released a restoration of the film in Lisbon and Porto. See also * Docufiction * List of docufi ...

'' by José Leitão de Barros,

* 1931 – '' Tabu'' written by Robert Flaherty and directed by F. W. Murnau, US * 1932 – ''L'or des mers'' by Jean Epstein,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

* 1933 – '' Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan'' by Luis Buñuel,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

* 1934 – '' Man of Aran'' by Robert Flaherty, UK

1940s

* 1942 – '' Ala-Arriba!'' by José Leitão de Barros,

* 1948 – '' Louisiana Story'' by Robert Flaherty, US

1950s

* 1955 – ''

Les maîtres fous ''Les maîtres fous'' (; "The Mad Masters") is a 1955 short film directed by Jean Rouch, a well-known French film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while ...

'' (The Mad Masters) by Jean Rouch,

* 1958 – ''

Moi, un noir ''Moi, un noir'' (, "Me, a Black erson; also released as ''I, a Negro'') is a 1958 French ethnofiction film directed by Jean Rouch. The film is set in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Synopsis The film depicts young Nigerien immigrants who left their cou ...

'' (Me a Black) by Jean Rouch,

1960s

* 1961 – '' La pyramide humaine'' by Jean Rouch,

* 1962 – ''Acto da Primavera'' (Act of Spring) by Manoel de Oliveira,

* 1963 – '' Pour la suite du monde'' (Of Whales, the Moon and Men) by Pierre Perrault and Michel Brault,

* 1967 – ''Jaguar'', by Jean Rouch,

1970s

* 1976 – ''

People from Praia da Vieira A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, ...

'' (Gente da Praia da Vieira) by

* 1976 – ''

Trás-os-Montes Trás-os-Montes () is a geographical, historical and cultural region of Portugal. Portuguese for "behind the mountains", Trás-os-Montes is located northeast of the country in an upland area, landlocked by the Douro and Tâmega rivers to south a ...

'' by António Reis and Margarida Cordeiro,

1980s

* 1982 �
''Nelisita'': narrativas nyaneka
by

Ruy Duarte de Carvalho Ruy Alberto Duarte Gomes de Carvalho (22 April 1941 – 12 August 2010) was an Angolan author and filmmaker, whose work, which over more than three decades spanned poetry, metafiction, and anthropology, focused on the Kuvale people of the sout ...

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

* 1988 – ''

Mortu Nega ''Mortu Nega'' (English: ''Death Denied'' or ''Those Whom Death Refused'') is a 1988 historic film by Flora Gomes, a director from Guinea-Bissau. ''Mortu Nega'' was Gomes' first feature-length film and the first film produced in independent Guine ...

'' (Death Denied) by Flora Gomes,

Guiné-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ), ...

1990s

* 1997 – '' Ossos'' by Pedro Costa,

2000s

* 2000 – '' No Quarto da Vanda'' (In Vanda's Room) by Pedro Costa,

* 2003 – '' Terra Longe'' (Remote Land) by Daniel E. ThorbeckeTerra LongeDavid & Golias
/ref> * 2006 – '' Colossal Youth'' by Pedro Costa,

* 2007 – ''Transfiction'' by Johannes Sjöberg

2010s

* 2011 – ''

Toomelah Toomelah Station (formerly Toomelah Aboriginal Mission) is an Aboriginal Australian community in the far north of inland New South Wales, Australia within the Boggabilla locality in Moree Plains Shire. The mission was established in the 1930s. ...

'' by Ivan Sen * 2012 – ''

The Act of Killing ''The Act of Killing'' ( id, Jagal, meaning "Butcher") is a 2012 documentary film about individuals who participated in the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–1966. The film is directed by Joshua Oppenheimer and co-directed by Christine Cynn and ...

'' by Joshua Oppenheimer,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

* 2014 – ''

Cavalo Dinheiro ''Horse Money'' ( Portuguese: ''Cavalo Dinheiro'') is a 2014 Portuguese film directed by Pedro Costa. It premiered in August 2014 at the Locarno International Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Direction. Horse Money is the fourth film ...

'' (Horse Money) by Pedro Costa,

* 2014 – '' La creazione di significato'' (The Creation of Meaning) by

Simone Rapisarda Casanova Simone Rapisarda Casanova is an Italian experimental filmmaker currently living in Canada. In 2014 he won the Leopard for Best Emerging Director at the Locarno International Film Festival. Life Rapisarda Casanova was born in Catania, Italy. H ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

* 2015 – ''

Dead Slow Ahead Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

'' by

Mauro Herce Mauro may refer to: Given name * Mauro (footballer, born 1932), Brazilian footballer * Mauro Silva (footballer, born 1978), Brazilian footballer * Mauro (footballer, born 1984), Portuguese footballer * Bruno Mauro (born 1973), Angolan footballer ...

* 2018 – '' Zanj Hegel la'' (Hegel's Angel) by

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

* 2018 – ''

The Dead and the Others ''The Dead and the Others'' ( pt, Chuva é Cantoria na Aldeia dos Mortos) is a 2018 internationally co-produced drama film directed by João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2018 Cannes ...

'' by João Salaviza,

* 2019 – '' Vitalina Varela'' by Pedro Costa,

* 2019 �
Work, or To Whom Does the World Belong
by Elisa Cepedal, Spain

Footnotes

External links

Ethnofition
at The University of Manchester (watch video)
Ethnofiction and Beyond: The Legacy of Projective Improvisation in Ethnographic Filmmaking
by Johannes Sjöberg

– Article (French) by Gaetano Ciarcia a
Université Montpellier III

Rouch & Cie. – un quintette
– Article (French) by Andrea Paganini at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
Ethnic Portraits and Ethnofiction
a
Mubi

The war of dreams: exercises in ethno-fiction
by Marc Augé (google books)
Ethnofiction : drama as a creative research practice in ethnographic film
a
Mendley
– Paper by Bloom, Elizabeth A., Ed.D., STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BINGHAMTON, 2006
Language description and "the new paradigm": What linguists may learn from ethnocinematographers
– Article by Gerrit J. Dimmendaal, University of Cologne, a
University of Hawai'i at Manoa

Ethnofiction and the Work of Jean Rouch
a
UK Visual Anthropology
* {{Film genres Ethnography Visual anthropology Anthropology documentary films Film genres Cinematic techniques Drama genres Documentary film genres Fiction by genre Fiction forms Television genres