Subaltern femininity in documentary cinema:

Making films from affectivity and equity

Abstract

This article tackles on the following ques-tion: Does documentary cinema have a positive impact on the lives of women in subaltern conditions? Through history, this film genre has been characterized by relationships of power and domination between filmmakers and characters in front of camera. This has been especia-lly evident when talking about women who belong to minority groups such as LGBTTTIQ+, indigenous or Afro-descendant communities, women who are under economic precariousness or women who, due to different situations, live in contexts of vulnerability and marginali-zation. Accordingly, it is argued that the relationships of equity, empathy and affec-tivity from the production and creation of non-fiction cinema are fundamental elements so that these works can become tools that trigger transformations in the lives of femininities under condition of subalternity, generating benefits for them both at the individual level and at the social level. Therefore, the categories of Cine Transculturado and Cine Subalterno, proposed by Pritsch (2017), are taken up as a starting point from which agents in front and behind cameras can develop relationships of affectivity and equity. This essay takes Latin-American documentary films as examples, studying the affective relationships that were generated between filmmakers and characters during the pro-duction process, the positive impact of the films on the communities and the people portrayed in them, and the fundamental relationship between those elements.