Restitution of Memory: Images and traces in Galician correspondence films

Abstract

The genre known as “correspondence cinema” is mainly determined by the spectator/émigré’s gaze. Constructed with obvious expressive and technical flaws that even approach the level of amateur cinema, this type of film was nevertheless capable of almost immediately triggering memories of a home and a time left behind. The restitution of a memory is made possible not only by the subjectivity of the spectator, but also by the modus operandi of the filmmakers who recorded this footage of local landscapes, faces, processions, rituals, work in the fields, etc. Based on a classification of these documentaries and an analysis of the mechanisms of their mise-en-scène, the aim of this article is to explore the reasons behind the extraordinary evocative power of the images filmed in Galicia, the homeland left behind, for screening at emigrant centres in host countries.