The DOCompass documentary block will focus on the Ernő Kunt Visual Anthropology Studio, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The founders of the studio consider it important to promote the understanding and methodology of visual anthropology as widely as possible, whether in higher education or in secondary education.

The Ernő Kunt Ernő Visual Anthropology Studio, consider it important to emphasise that in visual anthropology, the natural borders and regions that define the cultural unity of a region across national borders are much more important. This is a particularly important issue in the “birthplace” of the Studio, Miskolc, in the backward regions of North-Eastern Hungary, where cultural differences are still unaddressed.

Founded in 2003, the Studio is united in its understanding of visual anthropology, despite the diversity of its membership: it is a proponent of the “Miskolc School”, as envisioned and initiated by Ernő Kunt. Although this approach differs in some respects from traditional anthropological film theory and practice, it can be seen more as an Eastern European synthesis of these views than as a fundamentally new method. Aware of the fact that anthropology has shifted predominantly towards verbalism, which is now practically the only acceptable arena for scholarship, the members of the Workshop strive to make anthropological films that meet the requirements of both anthropology and filmmaking.

DOCompass films and screening dates:

FOUR FEET ON THE GROUND, directed by Nóra RUSZKAI
09.06. 19: 7:00, Béke Room
The film is set in Miskolc and stars three women who are trying to maintain their animal shelter, which was half destroyed by a landslide. They are also navigating a maze of bureaucracy and social indifference to build a new shelter. The film follows their struggle over six years on several fronts, from Miskolc to Germany, from the collapse of the old shelter to the construction of the new one.

WITHOUT PLANS WE ARE NOTHING, directed by: Gábor OSGYÁNI
09.07. 7:00 pm Béke Room
In Miskolc-Lyukóvölgy, people with difficult fates try to cope with the challenges of everyday life. An outside helper decides to try to improve their lives. Drawing on his own life experience, he plans, inspires, generates action, and his actions are driven purely by good intentions. But will all this be enough to succeed and help people living in poverty to change their lives?

MAN SOMETIMES BECOMES AN IMAGE – FRAGMENTS TO THE PORTRAIT OF ERNŐ KUNT, directed by Gyula GULYÁS, József R. NAGY
09.08. 5:00 pm Béke Room
In 1994, at the age of 46, Ernő Kunt, one of the first founding masters of Hungarian anthropology, passed away. As a cultural researcher, he believed that understanding ourselves, others living next to us and strangers is a complex task that must combine the methods of many sciences. As an acknowledged ethnographer, psychologist and thanatologist, he turned his attention to visual anthropology. He has sought to understand ourselves better through the study of other cultures. In exploring the nature of the present, he placed increasing emphasis on creative observation of visual communication and expression. As well as researching, collecting, writing and lecturing, he drew, painted, photographed and filmed. His work is marked by a number of seminal books, photo series, films and the Institute of Cultural and Visual Anthropology, a school he founded and established at the University of Miskolc. The film is made up of fragments of various types and qualities, mostly shot by amateur filmmakers.

All three screenings will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers. The screenings are free of charge.