The Migrant Experience Staged: An Analysis of the Interviews in the Documentary <em>Les 12 enfants du rabbin</em>

Abstract

The general objective of this article is to problematize to problematize the place of first person’s documentaries the context of a migrant and diasporic cinema, as defined by Berghahn & Sternberg, for whom this contemporary filmography should be understood as the result of one of the most significant practices regarding the artistic expression of migrant and diasporic groups since the 1980s. For this, an analysis is made of the documentary Les 12 enfants du rabin, made in 2007 by Yäel Bitton, with special attention to the interviews that the filmmaker conducts with his family in different countries. The analysis of these interviews is based on the works of Leonor Arfuch on the relevance of this discursive practice in the contemporary biographical space. It also exchanges with the poetic analysis of the documentary interview as advocated by Leger Grindon, an author who proposes five categories from which it would be possible to investigate the relationship established in the films between the interviewers, interviewees and viewers. As a result of the analysis, the contribution of this filmography stands out as the possibility of self-representation of migrant and diasporic communities, as well as for the investigation of the intricate intercultural scenarios involved in subjective experiences in such contexts, especially with respect to the dynamics of otherness in domestic spaces.