Herbert Duschenes’ Amateur Exilic Films: Cinematic and Social Territories in the Family Film Ronny – 1949-1950

Authors

  • Paola Prestes Penney Independent researcher

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2280-9481/10513

Keywords:

Herbert Duschenes, Amateur Film, Family Film, Film Archive, Exile, nannies

Abstract

In this article, we ponder how exile impacts the act of filming and its results in amateur filmmaking. I do so by studying the family films made by Herbert Duschenes, a German, partly Jewish architect and art history lecturer who moved to Brazil in 1940. I specifically analyze a sequence of the short film Ronny – 1949-1950 (1950), part of his earlier work focusing on the family he started in São Paulo. Thus, I address the sensitive relationship between the native household help that appears on camera and their European employer behind it, by bringing to light the interaction between the African-Brazilian nannies and the family they assist, and the blurry boundaries regarding the place these servants occupy not only in the home and society, but in the frame.

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Published

2020-07-30

How to Cite

Penney, P. P. (2020). Herbert Duschenes’ Amateur Exilic Films: Cinematic and Social Territories in the Family Film Ronny – 1949-1950. Cinergie – Il Cinema E Le Altre Arti, 9(17), 53–72. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2280-9481/10513

Issue

Section

Special