TEACHING METHODOLOGIES IN CONTEXT

REFLECTIONS ON THE VARAN WORKSHOPS

This panel exam­ines the teach­ing prac­tices devel­oped within the Varan work­shops, known for their empha­sis on obser­va­tion­al cinema and par­tic­i­pa­to­ry learn­ing. Imple­ment­ed in a wide range of cul­tur­al and social set­tings, these work­shops create valu­able spaces for cre­ative col­lab­o­ra­tion and mutual learn­ing. At the same time, they prompt crit­i­cal reflec­tion on the dynam­ics of knowl­edge trans­fer, author­ship, and power. How can teach­ing be adapt­ed mean­ing­ful­ly to dif­fer­ent con­texts? What ques­tions arise from transna­tion­al edu­ca­tion­al encoun­ters and how is the inter­play between men­tors and par­tic­i­pants envi­sioned and shaped? Draw­ing from prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ences, the panel explores both the oppor­tu­ni­ties and com­plex­i­ties of teach­ing film­mak­ing in diverse environments.

MODERATION

THOMAS JOHN is an anthro­pol­o­gist and film­mak­er spe­cial­iz­ing in audio­vi­su­al and media anthro­pol­o­gy. He designed, codi­rects and teach­es the MA pro­gram ‘Visual Anthro­pol­o­gy, Media and Doc­u­men­tary Prac­tices’ at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mün­ster Pro­fes­sion­al School. His research inter­ests and teach­ing focus are col­lab­o­ra­tive, cre­ative, mul­ti­modal and sen­so­ry nar­ra­tive strate­gies in anthro­pol­o­gy and doc­u­men­tary arts.

PANELISTS

EMMANUELLE BAUDE is a doc­u­men­tary and fic­tion film editor. After train­ing as an assis­tant on fea­ture-length fic­tion films (Claude Berri, Jean Mar­boeuf, Mama Keita, Anne Fontaine, Benoît Jacquot, Noèmie Lvosky, etc.), she went on to edit doc­u­men­taries with direc­tors such as Hélène de Crécy, Mark Daniels or Cather­ine Max­i­moff, Olivi­er Doran or Eugène Green. As a member of the Ate­liers Varan, she ini­ti­at­ed the Varan work­shop in Viet­nam with Sylvie Gadmer in 2003 and took part in the work­shops in Hanoi in 2004 and Ho Chi Minh City in 2005. She has also taken part in other var­i­ous work­shops abroad, includ­ing in Mau­ri­tius in 2000, Colom­bia in 2002 and Moroc­co in 2009. She reg­u­lar­ly super­vis­es edit­ing cours­es in Paris

JEAN-NOËL CRISTIANI stud­ied phi­los­o­phy and later cinema togeth­er with Jean Rouch at Paris X uni­ver­si­ty. In 1973, he beca-me a lec­tur­er in the Phi­los­o­phy Depart­ment at Paris V Uni­ver­si­ty. His first fea­ture film, LE SILENCE DES ORGANES, was released in 1976. In 1980 he took part in the cre­ation of the Ate­liers Varan. He has run sev­er­al work­shops in Roma­nia, Geor­gia, Serbia, Kenya and Egypt. In 2010 he set up a work­shop in Ajac­cio, Cor­si­ca, which has been held every year since. His films sub­jects are varied, alter­nat­ing from par­ti­cle physics to musi­cian biogra­phies. Today, he con­tin­ues to explore these themes of walk­ing and paint­ing in a cin­e­mat­ic study of Turner’s walk­ing sketches.

DAVID GHÉRON TRÉTIAKOFF is a direc­tor, editor, visual artist and per­former from Brus­sels. After attend­ing the Varan filmma-king course in Paris in 2002, he became a member and train­er at the Ate­liers Varan and has super­vised work­shops in Cairo, Ajac­cio, Guade­loupe, Oua­gadougou and Paris. His work focus­es on polit­i­cal and social issues such as the con­se­quences of the Alger­ian war, the per­cep­tion of iden­ti­ty in Muslim coun­tries and the effects of inter­na­tion­al ter­ror­ism. His work falls some­where between doc­u­men­tary and exper­i­men­tal cinema.

TRAN THI PHUONG THAO stud­ied for­eign trade and inter­pret­ing in Hanoi, before moving to Paris to pursue a master’s degree at Sci­ences Po. There, she did a post­grad­u­ate degree in doc­u­men­tary film­mak­ing at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Poitiers. Later, she joined the Varan Viet­nam work­shop - first as a trans­la­tor, then as a trainee - and direct­ed WORKERS DREAM. Today, as an inde­pen­dent doc­u­men­tary film­mak­er, she leads film­mak­ing work­shops in Viet­nam and pro­duces the work of emerg­ing film­mak­ers through the Varan Viet­nam organization