Made in Kurdistan: Ethnofiction, childhood and resistance in Bahman Ghobadis Kurdish cinema

Author(s)

Kelen Pessuto

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2017-12-15

Examining board members

Renato Sztutman; Francirosy Campos Barbosa; André Piero Gatti; Marco Antonio Teixeira Gonçalves; Sylvia Maria Caiuby Novaes

• Advisor: Rose Satiko Gitirana Hikiji

Abstract

My hypothesis is that in Ghobadis movies children are invested with agency, for they are not passive beings, but social agents. This surfaces in the constructed characters as well as in their engagement as coauthors of the films, because Bahman Ghobadis directing method dialogues with Jean Rouchs ethnofictions, both relying upon the collaboration of the subjects on screen. Ghobadis choice to skip the conventional movie making rules is more than an aesthetical one, it is also a political one, accomplishing a cinema of resistance, claiming itself to be a Kurdish Cinema. To understand witch childhoods are approached by Ghobadi and what does it means to those children to be Kurdish, I investigate the context they dwell. This investigation is carried out by presenting a Kurdish Cinema panorama and its dialogue with the society, investigating the themes presented by this cinema, the wars those children face, the uses of language, the censorship and the relation with the host countries. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/09757-7 - Ethnofiction, childhood and resistance in the Kurdish-Iranian cinema of Bahman Ghobadi
• Grantee: Kelen Pessuto
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate