Memories in movement: the contemporary community video on the border between reality and representation – an study of Roda Memória project

Abstract

Through researches around the uniqueness of image-sound in movement, especially the documentary and the video as peculiar tools for reality changes in the symbolic field, this study intends to make reflections about Roda Memória project, developed by Núcleo de Comunicação Popular e Comunitária da AlmA (Associação Intercultural de Projetos Sociais), an non-governmental organization from Londrina (PR). This project aims to contribute to the valorization of memories and life histories, seeking to multiply interpretations of Londrina’s past, through the production of video documentaries with the participation of young people from different neighborhoods of the city. Looking for aspects that could justify the choice of audiovisual media as a strategic tool for the democratization of the communication and the social memory, was diagnosed its hybrid potential for both register realities, and construct representations about real, either as a registration and documentation technology, or as the most transgressive artistic platform, marking its position between reality and representation. It was also possible to observe how the issue of reality representation is central in the popular video field – that between late 1970s and early 1990s, rallied around the ideal of “giving voice to the people” and the intention to have “image in hands” as a way to build contra informative and contra hegemonic speeches – stimulating it transition to what we call contemporary community video, which proposes new attitudes and expectations about the changing potential of video. Thus, we consider Roda Memória as an example of how, on the border between reality and representation, the contemporary community video, and the documentary as a “place of memory” as well, continue to be a strategic tool to reveal new perspectives on the present and the past, emphasizing collaborative processes and the experimentation of new forms of social interaction.