Detalhes do Documento

Thinking of a queer cinema means reflecting on how film, using its aesthetic-narrative strategies, can contribute to the antinormativity, disruption and destabilization of rigid standards of gender and sexuality. Based on the notion that a series of contemporary movies fulfills this goal by focusing on a queer creative act (Silva, 2021), this paper intends to identify this act in Brazilian contemporary cinema, specifically in the omniscient filmic gaze of trans actress and screenwriter Julia Katharine in the documentary I Remember the Crows (Gustavo Vinagre: 2018). Combining an exercise of film analysis with the methodology proposed by the Filmmakers’ Theory (Penafria, Baggio, Graça & Araujo, 2016), the investigation aims to examine how the dialogue of gazes staged by Katharine and Vinagre in the movie, a clash performed like a pas de deux, in/subverts not only the historical subject/object relationship in documentary production, but also the very tradition of objectification and/or erasure of trans bodies by cinema. Through her storytelling skills and her vast film knowledge, the protagonist establishes a co-authorship collaboration with the filmmaker, which makes the trans body, and the trans gaze, subjects of the narrative. As a result, Crows abandons the outdated notion of documentary as a genre in which reality simply happens and is captured by the genius gaze of the director, underlining the mise-en-scène and the filmmaking aspects inherent to the movie – and how Katharine is co-responsible for their creation.

Thinking of a queer cinema means reflecting on how film, using its aesthetic-narrative strategies, can contribute to the antinormativity, disruption and destabilization of rigid standards of gender and sexuality. Based on the notion that a series of contemporary movies fulfills this goal by focusing on a queer creative act (Silva, 2021), this paper intends to identify this act in Brazilian contemporary cinema, specifically in the omniscient filmic gaze of trans actress and screenwriter Julia Katharine in the documentary I Remember the Crows (Gustavo Vinagre: 2018). Combining an exercise of film analysis with the methodology proposed by the Filmmakers’ Theory (Penafria, Baggio, Graça & Araujo, 2016), the investigation aims to examine how the dialogue of gazes staged by Katharine and Vinagre in the movie, a clash performed like a pas de deux, in/subverts not only the historical subject/object relationship in documentary production, but also the very tradition of objectification and/or erasure of trans bodies by cinema. Through her storytelling skills and her vast film knowledge, the protagonist establishes a co-authorship collaboration with the filmmaker, which makes the trans body, and the trans gaze, subjects of the narrative. As a result, Crows abandons the outdated notion of documentary as a genre in which reality simply happens and is captured by the genius gaze of the director, underlining the mise-en-scène and the filmmaking aspects inherent to the movie – and how Katharine is co-responsible for their creation.

Thinking of a queer cinema means reflecting on how film, using its aesthetic-narrative strategies, can contribute to the antinormativity, disruption and destabilization of rigid standards of gender and sexuality. Based on the notion that a series of contemporary movies fulfills this goal by focusing on a queer creative act (Silva, 2021), this paper intends to identify this act in Brazilian contemporary cinema, specifically in the omniscient filmic gaze of trans actress and screenwriter Julia Katharine in the documentary I Remember the Crows (Gustavo Vinagre: 2018). Combining an exercise of film analysis with the methodology proposed by the Filmmakers’ Theory (Penafria, Baggio, Graça & Araujo, 2016), the investigation aims to examine how the dialogue of gazes staged by Katharine and Vinagre in the movie, a clash performed like a pas de deux, in/subverts not only the historical subject/object relationship in documentary production, but also the very tradition of objectification and/or erasure of trans bodies by cinema. Through her storytelling skills and her vast film knowledge, the protagonist establishes a co-authorship collaboration with the filmmaker, which makes the trans body, and the trans gaze, subjects of the narrative. As a result, Crows abandons the outdated notion of documentary as a genre in which reality simply happens and is captured by the genius gaze of the director, underlining the mise-en-scène and the filmmaking aspects inherent to the movie – and how Katharine is co-responsible for their creation.

Pensar em um cinema queer é refletir sobre como o audiovisual, com suas estratégias estético-narrativas, pode contribuir para uma proposta antinormativa de gênero e sexualidade. Partindo da noção de que uma série de filmes contemporâneos tem concretizado esse propósito por meio da encenação de um ato de criação queer (Silva, 2021), este artigo pretende identificar tal ato no cinema brasileiro contemporâneo, especificamente no olhar fílmico onisciente da atriz e roteirista trans Julia Katharine no documentário Lembro mais dos Corvos (Gustavo Vinagre: 2018). Combinando um exercício de análise fílmica com a metodologia proposta pela Teoria dos Cineastas (Penafria, Baggio, Graça & Araujo 2016), a investigação busca examinar como o diálogo de olhares encenado por Katharine e Vinagre no filme in/subverte não apenas a relação histórica sujeito/objeto na produção documental, mas também a própria tradição de objetificação e/ou apagamento de corpos trans pelo cinema. Por meio da sua capacidade de contar histórias e do seu vasto conhecimento cinematográfico, a protagonista estabelece uma colaboração de coautoria com o cineasta que faz do corpo trans, e do olhar trans, sujeitos da narrativa. Como resultado, Corvos afasta-se da noção ultrapassada de documentário como gênero em que a realidade simplesmente acontece e é capturada pelo olhar genial do realizador, evidenciando a mise-en-scène e os aspectos cinematográficos inerentes ao filme, e como Katharine é corresponsável pela sua criação.