Anamneses

Anamneses is a short experimental documentary that explores new strategies of authentication in my method of working with actors. Grounded in philosopher Bracha L. Ettinger’s theory of the psychical matrixial borderspace, and influenced by the methodologies of filmmakers Chantal Akerman and Abbas Kiarostami, the film tells the story of a young man who discovers a need to confront the legacy of intergenerational trauma present in his family. Interweaving the live recordings of intimate conversations with self-described readers, the project pushes the limits of collaborative filmmaking to shed light on the therapeutic possibilities of unorthodox healing practices. Contrasting the matrixial qualities found in both Kiarostami’s Homework (1989) and Akerman’s No Home Movie (2015), I argue that Anamneses echoes features of both, and employs a collaborative approach inspired by Maya Deren’s endorsement of amateurism to engage in an instance of aesthetic transsubjectivity and wit(h)nessing (Ettinger). My thesis project is an attempt to carve out a matrixial space (Ettinger) pointing toward a method of filmmaking that substitutes for the logic of domination an ethic of connection and compassion rooted in the maternal.