Semana_Festival de Cinema 9aSEMANA_CATALOGO_WEB | Page 171

DEBATE 1
CINEMA AND VIDEOACTIVISM:
IMAGES OF RESISTANCE
Dispute of the imaginary. Social and political memory. Still shy in the
1970s and 1980s, videoactivism gained momentum in the Brazilian
audiovisual scene from the 1990s as a protest movement linked to self-
representation documentary and visibility of minorities.
With the digital revolution (widespread use of cameras and cell phones,
easy access to softwares, reduced teams) and the emergence of social
networks (tools of content diffusion, mobilization and breakdown of the
information monopoly), videoactivism goes against the wave of social
apathy that we live - even in the face of the political-economic-cultural-
moral crisis -, strengthening artistic resistance and recreating the space
for reflection in the audiovisual sector. It's not just about production, it's
about viewing. Previously, we depended on big media corporations and
standard movie theaters.
Nowadays, videoactivism feeds on the street spectacle and social
denunciation brought to an audience that was previously needy, forced
to consume the traditional media which, in turn, also had suffered a
great impact, for it has lost a large portion of the audience because of
ideological disputes and because of the narratives that circulate daily on
the internet.
The purpose of this debate, therefore, is to reflect on the deviant ways
of telling the story and thinking about different layers of audiovisual
creation, its distribution and exhibition outside consecrated spaces,
collective production, construction of networks and potential spaces
for exchanges and the dispute of narratives with the thitherto
hegemonic media.
DEBATE 1
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