Thomas Matusiak explores reenactment in Latin American documentaries
Dr. Thomas Matusiak is an assistant professor at SWPS University's Faculty of Humanities in Warsaw and a cultural researcher specializing in Latin American cinema. His publications have addressed various topics across narrative, documentary, and experimental modes, ranging from the politics of cinematic form and materiality to exilic cinemas, embodied memory, and expanded cinematic practices. One of his articles, "One More Time: Reenactment in Contemporary Latin American Documentary Cinema", published in the Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, has been awarded LASA’s "Best Article Award" in April.
Reenactments in documentary films have a long history. In fact, the 1922 silent film Nanook of the North, which is considered the first full-length documentary, contains several reenacted and restaged scenes. In his article, Dr. Matusiak argues that the practice has become an increasingly popular strategy in contexts where archival evidence is scarce. By restaging events, societies can address the memories of violence and injustice that continue to haunt them. However, as documentary filmmakers strive for objectivity, the use of reenactments can create tension between the desire for authenticity and the need for narrative.
Film theorists have debated the apparent contradictions of documentary reenactment in recent years. One contribution of this article is to broaden the dialogue by engaging scholarship on Latin America, a region that has wrestled with questions of memory, embodiment, and the objectivity of knowledge as part of its colonial heritage. Similarly, while reenactment is a popular topic in studies of documentary cinema from Europe, the United States, and Asia, my article identifies a rich history of reenactment in Latin American cinema. In other words, the contributions of this article are to enrich these debates in film studies and encourage similar discussions in Latin American cultural studies, where reenactment has far less attention despite the region's unique tradition of this practice.
Thomas Matusiak, Ph.D. / Assistant Professor
SWPS University’s Faculty of Humanities in Warsaw
About the Latin American Studies Association
LASA is the world's largest professional association for individuals and institutions who study Latin America. Established in 1966, LASA has more than 13,000 members, with over 60% living outside the United States. It is the only association that brings together experts on Latin America from all over the world.
LASA's mission is to foster intellectual discussion, research, and teaching on Latin America, the Caribbean, and its people throughout the Americas, promote the interests of its diverse membership, and encourage civic engagement through network building and public debate.
About the researcher
Thomas Matusiak
Ph.D. / Assistant Professor
Dr. Thomas Matusiak researches the relations between aesthetics and politics in the context of modern and contemporary Latin America, with a focus on cinema. His articles were published in the Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, Romance Quarterly, Studies in Spanish and Latin American Cinemas, Cuadernos de Literatura, and other venues. In addition, he is revising a manuscript entitled The Visual Guillotine: The Cinematic Cut and the Form of Politics in Latin America. He is presently initiating a new research project on intermediality and the expansion of documentary forms in contemporary Latin American culture. He is also an active member of the Latin American Studies Association. Before joining SWPS, Dr. Matusiak was Postdoctoral Fellow at Dartmouth College (2019-2021) and received his Ph.D. from Princeton University (2019). He has also been a Fulbright student scholar in Bogotá, Colombia (2013-2014).
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