Moving images are an important resource in historical research. The creation, in recent years, of open-access digital repositories has fulfilled long-standing aspirations, making it easier than ever to access these images. However, even when some reservations have been overcome (particularly regarding their potential as "historical sources"), historians and other researchers continue to have doubts about the best way to approach and incorporate moving images into their research. This session will begin by presenting some examples of how moving images have been the subject of historical interest (or disinterest). We will discuss the motivations behind the formation of moving image archives and their affirmation in the public sphere as "heritage" and "collective memory." In the second part, we will view a selection of images from different periods that are accessible in the Cinemateca Digital or on DVD. How can we analyze these images? How can we relate them to the archival materials of which they are, after all, a digital representation? The practical result of this exercise will be the elaboration of a list of tips and alerts. The former aim to make the analysis of moving images more focused and productive, while the latter aim to prevent interpretive fallacies that tend to arise in this type of analysis. The goal is to promote the use of moving images among historians and other researchers, enabling them to develop well-founded, original, dense, and relevant analyses.
Sofia Sampaio is a principal investigator at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon. Her research on and about moving image archives has been published in international scientific journals, such as Film History: An International Journal (2022), Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (2022), Etnográfica (2021), Mana: Estudos de Antropologia Social (2018), Análise Social (2015), among others. In this context, she also organized the book Viagens, Olhares e Imagens: Portugal 1910–1980 (Cinemateca Portuguesa, 2017) and co-organized the collection of essays A Propósito dos Outros Filmes: Encontros com o arquivo de imagens em movimento (FGV Editora, 2022). She is currently the editorial coordinator of Aniki: Portuguese Journal of Moving Image.
Organizing Committee
Yvette Santos (IHC — NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)
Mariana Meneses Muñoz (CHAM — NOVA FCSH)
Organization
IHC / NOVA FCSH
CHAM / NOVA FCSH
