Vision

The concept of self-portrait assumes full relevance in the theoretical formulation of this project. It is based on the "autobiographical pact" proposed by Philippe Lejeune in 1975, which entails the simultaneous identity between author, narrator, and the person whose life is narrated. Recognizing the non-linearity of the process, as well as the eventual impossibility to verify the facts mentioned in the narratives, we consider that the main advantage of the definition is the disengagement between autobiography and what is real or true.
linearidade do processo, bem como a possível incapacidade de verificação dos factos mencionados por quem recebe a mensagem transmitida, consideramos que a definição tem como principal vantagem a desvinculação entre a autobiografia e o real ou verdadeiro.

The motivation for our research does not relate to the verification of facts transmitted in the work, but rather to the very subjectivity and poetic form of the filmic content. We are interested in studying ways of appearing through the autobiographical material and the filmmakers’ cathartic situation at stake. In analysing what they express about their SELF as the fruit of an unelected family past with marks in the present: in every day’s routine, behaviour, and decisions. The self´s experience formulated by women is inseparable from a narrative pact that results in the presentation of an "I" that claims for visibility, legitimacy, in short, for the strength of presence.

The study, which covers films made by women in Portugal (such as Leonor Teles, Margarida Leitão or Catarina Mourão) and in Brazil (Petra Costa and Maria Clara Escobar, among others), starts from the idea that women filmmakers have faced difficulties to make fiction, in Portugal and in the world, as compared to a more representative number of women documentary filmmakers – in Portugal, in Portuguese speaking countries, and in the world.

The justification for the focus considers these acknowledged obstacles, which contrast with these women’s daring to film and expose: not just any story, but their own stories, those of their families, and those of their roles in narratives so intimate and personal that they become universal. Self-representation and mirroring are often inscribed as counter-power in social, familiar, and public spaces. According to the terminology created by Claire Johnston (1973), it may even be a "counter-cinema," given the scarce possibilities that make these bodies and plots disruptive and minority in a national and international media circuit. To put the intimate at risk through the making of a documentary, and to confer aesthetic and ethical value to the self-exposition through cinema, means to overcome an ambiguity. To work cinematographically on a labyrinth of personal experiences lived by women is, therefore, to contribute to making them visible and audible. It implies, in a way, going towards unknown universes and establishing new understanding and comprehension forms.