Visual recording technology has progressed remarkably and may provide fieldworkers with a practical and potent tool for presenting research and providing feedback to the subjects of such research.  However, practical methods for filming fieldwork and presenting filmed results have not been widely discussed among area studies or anthropology researchers in Japan. This Satellite Workshop will seek a foothold for further development of area studies with film-making and film-presentation approaches.

In this Satellite Workshop, visual anthropologists and area studies researchers will present their films based on long term field work, and discuss methods of film-making and other related matters.

Before the screening, each presenter (filmmaker) will provide background information on his or her film, including such items as the purpose behind the film-making and the research issues that he/she has focused on, as well as a brief explanation of some of the more noteworthy technical and aesthetic aspects.  The panel discussion at the end of the workshop will examine the issue of “positionality(reflexivity),” that is, how the researcher locates him/herself in a film context.  Positionality is a crucial issue, both in the film-making process and in the use of film, as it may greatly affect ethnographic verity.