15.5.2026 at 19:15
Memories of an Unforgettable Event

While teaching Visual Anthropology and Ethnographic Filmmaking to students in Germany, I increasingly found it challenging to convey the significance of the field’s early pioneers and the historical development of its methods. Over the years, I attended numerous conferences and film festivals across Europe and the United States, where I had the opportunity to meet many of these pioneers. Observing their knowledge, intellectual rigor, and distinctive ways of thinking, debating, and teaching left a lasting impression on me.

At these gatherings, the origins of visual anthropology and ethnographic filmmaking were frequent topics of discussion. It became evident that the period from the 1950s to the 1970s was particularly formative, as many of the discipline’s central ideas emerged during these decades. Key milestones include the ICAES conference held in Chicago in 1973 and the subsequent publication of its proceedings in Principles of Visual Anthropology, edited by Paul Hockings (1975).

Another defining feature of the field is its strong interdisciplinary character. Collaboration among anthropologists, documentary filmmakers, artists, and other specialists has been fundamental in shaping both the methodology and theoretical framework of visual anthropology. Individuals from diverse professional backgrounds came together at workshops, conferences, and film festivals, collectively contributing to the establishment of the discipline as an academic field.

Since the Institut für den Wissenschaftlichen Film (IWF) organized the conference, it was only natural to document the sessions on video. Manfred Krüger supervised the interns who carried out this work. However, it was not until recent years that the material could be edited and made accessible online. In addition, Beate Engelbrecht published a volume in 2006 that includes most of the conference papers, which is now also available online.

Website: Origins of visual anthropology - Putting the past together

Book online: Memories of the Origins of Ethnographic Film