Kantonen, Generational Filming - A Video Diary as Experimental and Participatory Research

The doctoral dissertation explores the act of filming, being filmed and viewing film in the context of everyday life. Kantonen began the journey described here in a state of confusion with more than 1000 hours of home video diary material shot since 1990. Together with his family Kantonen set off to show video clips to audiences in Finland, Estonia, Poland, Southeast Asia and Mexico, asking for advice from people of various cultures and occupations on how to interpret and edit the material. This performance was inspired by Jean Rouch's method ofshared anthropology, which involved showing a raw edit to those filmed and taking into account their comments during the final edit. However, Kantonen does not intend to arrive at a finalised video diary. The method,generational filming, created together with Lea Kantonen, involves a potentially endless process of sedimentation, where each generation comments on earlier generations. Every screening circle demands a new reflexive and inclusive edition. This book, which functions as yet another layer, describes the method from the viewpoints of artistic research, socially engaged art, visual anthropology, and film studies.