Η ταινία ως αρχείο: η αναπαραγωγή της Ιστορίας και της μνήμης στον Θ. Αγγελόπουλο

Abstract

The preparation and realization of a film with historical or self-referential content, follows a logic similar if not the same as that of archivalization, (as Eric Ketellar suggests) differentiating it from the subsequent placement in a series of hierarchy, which follows, with the shooting and recording, giving a better understanding of how the silent narratives of the archive become explicit narratives within the film. The archive reflects reality as perceived by “archivers”, when the film reflects reality as perceived by its author. In any case the concept of archiving in filmmaking is equivalent to “passion for the past” and “excavation” of memory. Today, film historians and theorists find it increasingly acceptable to approach fiction films as reflections of the past. In the postmodern understanding, the boundaries between film and history are tending to disappear. Historians have embraced narrative strategies and fiction in storytelling, and film theorists see the gap between fiction and non-fiction films disappear as well. Both fiction and non-fiction can be considered as a kind of historical archive. Godard used to say that cinema is the medium we use “to write history” and at the same time cinema shapes its unique history during the realization of the films. Cinema could also offer us ways to make History. The archive is the place that facilitates the implementation of such an endeavour. The present study explores the relationship between archive and film, as well as the notion of “the film-archive” in the work of Theo Angelopoulos.