Reflecting on their parallel trajectories, filmmaker, visual anthropologist and former dancer Miranda Pennell and writer and anthropologist Dr. Massimiliano Mollona consider dance as a way of understanding people, and anthropology as performance. They discuss the reasons they both employ film as a space for reflecting critically on their own practices, considering issues such as the relationships between consciousness and process; choreography and agency; appearance and meaning.
This talk was part of Crossing Borders 2010, presented in partnership with London Contemporary Dance School.
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Films screened and mentioned during the talk:
Film 1: Miranda Pennell: You Made Me Love You (2005)
Film 2: Jean Rouch: Les Maitres Fous (The Mad Masters)
Film 3: Cao Guimarães: From the window of my room (2004)
Film 4: The Singing Street
Film 5: Andrew Kotting Gallivant
Dr Massimiliano Mollona teaches anthropology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. His interests focus on the anthropology of work, class and politics and on visual anthropology and film. He has done extensive fieldwork in Europe and Brazil and is currently involved in several film projects in Brazil.
Miranda Pennell originally trained in contemporary dance in New York and at the Theatre-school Modern Dance Dept., Amsterdam. Miranda’s work crosses movement and film and has been shown across different contexts including independent cinema, gallery, and broadcast.
Adapted from bios published in 2010
