Family Cinema and Private Memories

One speaks of a family film when thinking of a film dedicated to the representation of events, stories, places and figures belonging to a specific private household. The concept of the home movie, in fact, refers to a rather defined spatial perimeter, which is that of the home. The family film is thus constituted as a domestic and playful practice that is in some way made for the entertainment of the family and for the self-celebration of the affective bonds that connect the various members of the family. The filmmakers' archives are great filmed diaries. What emerges in these films is a tendency to continuously and sequentially film the private environment in the conception of one's own footage as a mnemonic tool to be reconnected within a fabric of memories and experiences that are intended for others. These 'others' are in the first instance the people who belong to one's present: one's family and one's friendship context. But this project of recovering and reassembling memories, which is also reminiscent of the photo album, takes a much longer view and is often destined for posterity to whom one wants to leave a legacy: a family tale, a narrative of oneself that can be handed down from generation to generation. Alice Cati introduces the concept of the family film by examining its historical and social aspects and emphasising the revolutionary power of small gauge cinema, born in the 1920s, which allowed everyone to self-represent themselves.