Decolonial Audiovisual Grammar: the educational experience of community cinema "Water on Stage"

Abstract

This article seeks to communicate the educational experience of the "Water on Stage Community Film" Research Project, carried out in San Salvador Atenco, State of Mexico. To do so, it explores the pedagogical dynamics and filmmaking processes from what we call Decolonial Audiovisual Grammar. This approach is proposed as a critical-decolonial praxis that seeks to dismantle hegemonic forms of audiovisual production and representation—forms that tend to folklorize the socio-historical problems of cultures to promote their nostalgic consumption. In contrast, the first part of the text explores decolonial grammar at a conceptual level as a counter-hegemonic pedagogy in the audiovisual field. The methodology implemented in four community film workshops held in the community of Zapotlán, San Salvador Atenco, is then presented. Finally, the section entitled Community Film as an Educational Praxis: Gaze, Voice, Writing is addressed.