WEBINAR: Collaborative Filmmaking as Method and Care - with Yvonne Wallace and Jared Epp (May
Dear All,
Images of Care Collective invites you to the next webinar, this time with Yvonne Wallace and Jared Epp. The talk is entitled Collaborative Filmmaking as Method and Care.
Join us on Zoom, May 21st (Wednesday) at 18:00 19:30 CEST/ 17:00- 18:30 BST/ 10:00 11:30 MDT/ 12:00-13:30 EDT. Don't forget to watch the 15 minute film prior to the webinar! (More details, and link to the video below:)
https://ageneteasa.org/2025/04/24/collaborative-filmmaking-as-method-and-care /
ABOUT THE TALK:
This webinar explores the research relationship afforded by a particular kind of multimodal ethnography, the ethnographic B movie, which anthropologist Jared Epp presents as research method (2024). Against professional aesthetic that is typically expected in images and film produced through ethnographic research (Minh-ha 1991; Ruby 2000), Epp argues for an open-ended, low expectation approach to collaborative creativity. The most important element of the ethnographic B movie is not the output or academic relatability but the kind of creative space that emerges where all involved can express themselves as theyd like. In a setting of intentional unprofessionalism, Epp argues that the ethnographic B movie allows for both researcher and interlocutor (read: collaborator) to be themselves, and part of being themselves is to take on the risk of vulnerability (performing and creating in front of each other, in front of a camera, in front of an audience).
How can this method be applied in aging research? Yvonne Wallace shares her experience adopting the ethnographic B movie in the making of Seniorsville a speculative, documentary of the future, co-written by and starring her interlocutors from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Wallace explains how the ethnographic B movie, as a more passive, deferential modality of co-creation, served as an act of care within her research by centering the experiences, contributions, and agency of her interlocutors. She and one of her primary collaborators will talk about the process of making the film, and what the ethnographic B movie method meant for the researcher and interlocutor experience.
To conclude, Epp and Wallace argue that it is an act of care to invite co-creativity in ethnographic research, allowing interlocutors to share their stories on their own terms and through which researcher and interlocutor share in mutual vulnerability.
To make the most of this webinar, we encourage the audience to watch this 15-minute clip in advance. For those who cannot make it, the speakers will be including clips of our films within our presentation as well.
You can watch Seniorsville here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvOtt3ZT2bs
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Yvonne Wallace is a PhD Candidate in social anthropology at the University of Toronto. Drawing on research with older adults living in a for-profit retirement home in downtown Edmonton, Canada, her project explores intersections of aging and urban revitalization, as well as impacts of the financialization of seniors housing. More on Yvonne's work here.
Jared Epp is a PhD Candidate in social anthropology from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. His research engages with filmic research-creation to understand the intersection of madness, imagination and precarity in a Canadian urban context. His films have been screened at KISMIF (2024), Freiburger Filmforum (2023) and the Canadian Anthropological Society annual conference (2022). (see also here)
ABOUT THE WEBINAR SERIES "IMAGES, AGEING AND CARE"
This webinar series free and open to all- gathers anthropologists and image-makers interested in exploring the ontological and epistemological connections between images, aging and care, treating the relationship and these phenomena as requiring and inviting interrogation. It is sponsored by the Images of Care Collective, the Association for Anthropology, Gerontology and the Life Course (AAGE), EASAs Age and Generations Network (AgeNet) and the Network for Visual Anthropology of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (VANEASA). You can see our past webinars here.
To be informed about the next webinars, sign up for the mailing list by clicking here.
Looking forward to seeing you there,
Barbara, Paolo and Martina
Vaneasa mailing list Vaneasa@lists.easaonline.org http://lists.easaonline.org/listinfo.cgi/vaneasa-easaonline.org
