Here is a video that supplements the argument that I made with Meta Mazaj in our contribution to the Cinema Journal Dossier on New Approaches to Teaching World Cinema– “Centers, Forms and Perspectives in World Cinema.”
Gravity (2013), directed by Alfonso Cuarón and Aningaaq (2013), a short film released by his son and co-scriptwriter, Jonás Cuarón. The two films, one a mainstream juggernaut and the other, a short film that reveals the submerged part of conversation speak much about the relationship between the dominance of Hollywood cinema and its powers to ignore other cinemas.
“The two films, one a giant behemoth with global ambitions and the other a brief statement from a marginal culture trying to assert itself, serve as a potent allegory for the image of world cinema. While Hollywood attempts to encompass the world below, it muzzles other voices, multitudes of which wait to be heard. Reminiscent of a children’s tale by Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears A Who!, the relation between Gravity and “Aningaaq” makes apparent the erasure of voices embodied in the dominant perspective, urging us to be mindful of the plurality that exists in places kept out of sight. There are thus many Aningaaqs, many cinematic voices from different corners of the globe claiming their space in the topography of world cinema.” read more…..