“A beautiful study!”. Family films between aestheticisation of memory and the unexpected

Abstract

This report recounts the stages of a year-and-a-half-long research project that took place in Modena and concerns a possible anthropology of small gauge family films. It intends to make explicit the methodological concerns related to the call to collect private archives, reflect about the ethnography and interviews of amateurs or their relatives, discuss the practice of fund selection and digitization. Moreover, the paper is meant to highlight the moment of return of the private archives to owners and public presentations through events organized by the research group. Finally, the first analytical reflections are outlined.