Abstract
This short film evokes and explores the chaos and collaborative creativity involved in child rearing and filmmaking. Jessica retraces the steps of her mother-in-law Stella who grew up in Dalston in the 1950s. Both filmmaker and subject include their children in the process of making the film.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 24 Sept 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |
| Event | Film maker in the Family - BFI Southbank Studio, London, U.K. Duration: 24 Sept 2016 → 24 Sept 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Duration: 14 min.Image/sound Type: Documentary
Impact: The short film MMMil from MM documents the chaos of childrearing but also the potential for inspiration and creative play amongst that chaos. The film interweaves the experience of Jessica bringing up her children in Dalston where her mother-in-law Stella grew up in the 1950s. Highlighting the gentrification of the area but emphasizing the networks forged by parents, and the universality of the juggle of childrearing, work, family and relationships. The methodology behind the making of the film uses rhizomatics, after Deleuze and Guattari, mapping the network that is forged out of necessity by parents, but it is also a tactical film, after de Certeau, in that it was made within the constraints that childrearing imposes on creative work, namely the timeframe and piecing together a fragmentary representation of a complex time. But also the nature of the labour involved: the filmmaker is actively participating in both the childcare and the filming simultaneously (by strapping her daughter to her back to film). The film intercuts between three parallel time periods: when Jess' first son is one, when she is pregnant with her second child, and when that second son is a month old. The film was premiered at the Film maker in the Family curated screening at the BFI Southbank 24th September 2016. The screening contextualised the research area in the department of film making in PASS/FASS in Kingston and comprised work from UG, PG, doctoral students and staff. Examined the intersection of filmmaking and family life across areas of Taiwanese diaspora, working parents, family members living with depression and mental illness; generations and gentrification in East London; generations in Swiss Germany; the effect of parenthood on the creative process; the extended family we make for ourselves; how children film.
Keywords
- Communication, cultural and media studies