Encounters Between Cultures: The Yanomamis, Representation and Everyday Life in Three Documentaries by Manuel de Pedro

Abstract

This paper takes as its starting point a film and cinematographic analysis of three documentaries directed by Manuel de Pedro that present common elements such as the participation of the Odin Teatret and the Yanomamis, or reflections on theater, its social function, the concept of representation and its uses as a spectacle or daily ceremony in the contexts of the Third International Theater Festival of Caracas, the encounter between the Danes and the indigenous people in the Venezuelan Amazon, and the Yanomami community itself, as the case may be. The analysis is followed by a synthesis and interpretation which facilitates recognition of the stylistic and conceptual proposals put forward by the director in each film. It also brings into focus the relationships and formal and thematic differences between the films and the way in which the author’s perception of the various themes evolves depending on the production context and the recorded events.