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Journal of Media Practice

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Rehearsing Reality — pushing the boundaries of

documentary viewing
a
Dr Udi Mandel Butler
a
School of Anthropology, Oxford University
Published online: 03 Jan 2014.

To cite this article: Dr Udi Mandel Butler (2008) Rehearsing Reality — pushing the boundaries of documentary
viewing, Journal of Media Practice, 9:3, 281-282

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/jmpr.9.3.281_4

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JMP_9_3_10-Review_080005 11/5/08 12:41 PM Page 281

Review
Journal of Media Practice Volume 9 Number 3 © Intellect Ltd 2008
Review. English language. doi: 10.1386/jmpr.9.3.281/4

Rehearsing Reality – pushing the

boundaries of documentary viewing
Dr Udi Mandel Butler School of Anthropology,
Oxford University
Downloaded by [University of Otago] at 13:22 10 January 2015

Abstract Keywords
A review of Rehearsing Reality, a project that creatively pushes the boundaries documentary
of the experience of documentary viewing. Nina Simões’ audiovisual experiment, interactivity
which she terms docufragmentary, takes John Grierson’s original definition of the Brazil
documentary as the ‘creative use of actuality’ and pushes this further to mean not
only the creativity involved in producing the film but also in viewing it.

Rehearsing Reality is a project that creatively pushes the boundaries of the 1 Watch Nina Simões’
experience of documentary viewing. Nina Simões’ audiovisual experiment,1 project at: http://www.
rehearsingreality.org/.
which she terms docufragmentary, takes John Grierson’s original defini-
tion of the documentary as the ‘creative use of actuality’ and pushes this 2 Link to Korsakow
software: http://www.
further to mean not only the creativity involved in producing the film but korsakow.com/.
also in viewing it. Here the viewer navigates her/his way through the mul-
tiple sequences of the piece, choosing their order and defying the linear
narratives that often characterize the documentary tradition. This interac-
tive process, where the film is accessible online, is facilitated by software2
developed by German artist and filmmaker Florian Thalhofer. The soft-
ware, which is freely available online, allows for the creation of a database
of films, with the filmmaker, as well as being involved in editing the sepa-
rate sequences, also creates the logic by which the viewer will choose
between the scenes or the material in the system. But this logic allows for
far more freedom and interactivity than a linear viewing experience, with
the possibility of choosing multiple paths through the sequences allowing
for a novel configuration of sequences, and therefore of meaning, in each
viewing.
But it is the theme of Nina’s film that really brings this viewing system
to life, especially because the Landless Movement of Brazil and their use of
theatre techniques of the Theatre of the Oppressed each in their own way
also have interactivity in the heart of their endeavours. The Landless
Movement is described in a precious sequence of the film by ‘companheiro’
Noam Chomsky, who happened to be visiting one of their camps, as one of

JMP 9 (3) 281–284 © Intellect Ltd 2008 281

JMP_9_3_10-Review_080005 11/5/08 12:41 PM Page 282

the most important social movements active in the world today. The
Movement comprises of hundreds of thousands of rural workers struggling
for land rights in Brazil and its participatory qualities, including their com-
munitarian approach to living in the settlements and its de-centralized
decision-making, at least on a local level, are well-noted. As for the Theatre
of the Oppressed, this is a highly original form of activist theatre devised
by Augusto Boal, who elucidates this approach in several sequences, as
entailing a tool for reflection and action within contexts of oppression. The
key feature of the Theatre of the Oppressed is the focus on intervention by
the spectator, who gives her/his opinion as to what the desired outcome
of the ‘rehearsed reality’ played out for them would be. Throughout a
number of sequences, we, like the members of the Movement in the arid
Northeast of the country, witness the power structures that affect their
day-to-day lives ‘rehearsed’ in the performed dramas. As viewers we also
witness the processes of action/reflection of these spectators and other cul-
Downloaded by [University of Otago] at 13:22 10 January 2015

tural activists within the movement undergo, and the ‘fragmented’ or

rather de-centered authorship of the documentary both support the
tension and drama of these moments but also bring to the fore the crucial
role of the viewer in the act of interpretation.
Combining these three ingredients of pushing the boundaries of inter-
active viewing, drawing attention to the very real political contexts in
which people in Brazil have been experimenting with different forms of
political participation, and in pointing out how the field of ‘culture’ has
also a key role to play in the struggles for social justice make Rehearsing
Reality an original and highly rewarding experience.

References
Rizzini, I., Butler, U.M. and Stocklin, D. (eds.) (2008), Life on the Streets, Freiburg:
University of Freiburg (also translated from the Portuguese edition).
Butler, U. et al. (organizers) (2007), Nós: A Revolução de Cada Dia, Rio de Janeiro:
CIESPI/PUC.
Butler, U.M. (2007), ‘Embodying Oppression: Revolta Amongst Young People
Living on the Streets of Rio de Janeiro’ in J. Staples (ed.), Livelihoods at the
Margins. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.

Filmography
A Day Under the Bodhi Tree (2004), Udi Mandel Butler, Bodhgaya, India.
Além da Pista (2002) (Coming of Age on the Streets of Rio), Udi Mandel Butler, Rio
de Janeiro.

Contributor details
Udi’s research has been with children, adolescents and young adults living or who
have lived on the streets of Rio de Janeiro. He has also been involved with action-
research projects on this topic in Rio with CIESPI and other organizations working
with young people on the streets, making a documentary on this topic. His most
recent research with CIESPI looks at young people’s perceptions of and participa-
tion in public action in Rio (NGOs, social movements, politics, citizenship).
Contact: Dr Udi Mandel Butler, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology,
51/53 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PE, UK.
E-mail: udibutler@hotmail.com

282 JMP 9 (3) Review © Intellect Ltd 2008