Mutilate the image? The denial of the use of subtitles in ethnographic filmmakers. The case of Jorge Prelorán

CAMPO, JAVIER

Bristol

Conferencia; RAI Film Festival Online Conference; 2023

Royal Anthropological Institute

Prelorán paid special attention to thedubbing of his films, generally using his own voice for it. He preferred not touse subtitles, unlike filmmakers like David MacDougall, who often left theoriginal native voice with subtitles. For his part, Jean Rouch did not requirethe presence of subtitles for his ethnofictions, since his protagonists spokeFrench and not the language of their ancestors (Henley says that the reason hechose his protagonists was because they spoke French -2009 : 307-). His excusein this regard was that the subtitles "mutilate the image"; withwhich many parliaments and dialogues. "This was one of the mostsignificant limitations of his praxis," says Henley (2009: 210-242). Thesame could be said of Jorge Prelorán and his films, in which there are noprotagonists who speak in indigenous languages. David MacDougall makes thecaveat that Prelorán, in Imaginero, utters a translation of the words of hisprotagonist (in the English version), but trying to be spontaneous, taking carenot to silence the original speech (1998: 166). But, why not subtitle the voiceof those protagonists? The objective of this presentation will be to review theworks, and denials, of the Argentine ethnographic filmmaker