The Reconstruction of Memory Through Mexican Documentary Film

  • Mónica del Sagrario Medina Cuevas Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla
  • Alejandro Jiménez Arrazquito Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla

Abstract

This paper is an approach to the concept of memory in contemporary Mexico through documentary film production, specifically in two films: Los rollos perdidos de Pancho Villa (Rocha, 2003), and La danza del hipocampo (Domínguez, 2014). We analyze both audiovisual pieces using the theoretical concepts developed by Bill Nichols (1997, 2001). We also consider Maurice Halbwachs (2004) work on memory. This paper is a review on audiovisual production through a film-textual methodology developed on semiotics and structuralism concepts. We use the works of Casetti and Di Chio (1991). The audiovisual pieces analyzed in this paper play with individual and collective memory, as the filmmakers themselves take part of the storytelling and show the mechanisms of their memories through images and sounds. Their representation of Mexican society under their personal and collective memories reveal the necessity of further narratives of social events through personal points of view.

Published
2022-09-23
Section
Artículos Científicos