ABSTRACT
The idea of ‘co-operatively produced’ or ‘subject generated’ films has been discussed to some extent in the existing literature. As Jay Ruby characterises them such documentaries might be ‘dissimilar to the dominant practice’ and ‘offer the possibility of perceiving the world from the viewpoint of people who lead lives that are different from those traditionally in control of the means of imaging the world’ (2000:196). This chapter describes and discusses the work of A Buen Común, an interdisciplinary Spanish ethnographic film-making unit. A Buen Común’s distinctive approach offers an alternative to the observational ethnographic film styles that developed in the late nineteenth century. A Buen Común’s work is interdisciplinary, democratic and collaborative. In each documentary project film-makers, social researchers and the protagonists work together. Its members view social science and film to be instruments of social transformation, working towards a fairer and better society.
