Reassemblage

Trinh T. Minh-ha’s first film and a classic of postcolonial cinema, Reassemblage is set in the rural areas of Senegal. It introduces Trinh’s methodology, which she defines as the idea of “speaking nearby,” an approach she will adopt throughout her career. Through this work, Trinh questions the presumption of anthropologist filmmakers and documentarians to speak about or on behalf of their subjects. This critique also extends to the “missionary, the Peace Corps volunteer, the tourist, and finally, but not least, herself as a spectator.”

Directed by

Trinh T. Minh-ha

1982 | 39 min | English

Filmmaker’s country : United States
Country of filming : Senegal

*The screening will be followed by a discussion with:

Nat Nesvaderani, an Iranian-American professor in the Anthropology Department at Université de Laval. Her research focuses on migration, refugees, youth, affect and humanitarianism in South-West Asia and North Africa. She is also interested in cinema and feminist, gender and sexuality studies.

Marion Froger, a professor at the Université de Montréal in the Department of Art History, Cinema and Audiovisual Media, will also be joining us. She will take a socio-anthropological look at cinema as a social experience, embedded in the relationships between creators, spectators and representations.

Moderated by Émilie Tullio, doctoral student in film studies at the Université de Montréal in cotutelle with Université Paris-Saclay in visual sociology.