Fulvia Caruso

Anja Dreschke and Michaela Schäuble (2024): Tarantism Revisited. Produced by EMB – Ethnographic Mediaspace Bern and Petit à Petit Cologne. Italian voice-over, texts & credits english. colour, b/w. 145 minutes (preliminary version).

Introduction

Anja dreschke and michaela schäuble (2024): tarantism revisited. Produced by emb – ethnographic mediaspace bern and petit à petit cologne. Italian voice-over, texts & credits english. Colour, b/w. 145 minutes (preliminary version).. Review of "Tarantism Revisited" (2024), a film by Dreschke and Schäuble. It explores Italian tarantism melotherapy, offering a reflective dialogue between ethnography and cinema, past and present.

Abstract

Il presente contributo è la recensione del film Tarantism Revisited, diretto da Anja Dreschke e Michaela Schäuble, prodotto dalla EMB – Ethnographic Mediaspace Bern and Petit à Petit Cologne nel 2024. Il film racconta un fenomeno molto conosciuto nell’antropologia ed etnomusicologia italiana, quello della meloterapia del tarantismo. Il film gioca in modo sapiente e coinvolgente con l’interpolazione continua tra documentazione storica e riprese contemporanee, costruendo una narrazione stratificata che riflette la complessità del tarantismo, tanto nella sua dimensione storica quanto nelle sue persistenze e trasformazioni nel presente. Non si tratta semplicemente di un confronto tra ieri e oggi, ma di un dialogo fra tempi etnografici e cinematografici, che si intrecciano senza mai fondersi completamente, mantenendo sempre una certa tensione critica. Il suono fa un uso sapiente di voci fori campo, suoni in presa diretta, nuove composizioni e documentazione d'archivio, creando una vera e propria colonna sonora multivocale densa di significato. In questo gioco calibrato di presenze e assenze, di voci che si fanno corpo e corpi che si fanno assenti, si rivela una concezione del documentario che non si accontenta della registrazione oggettiva dei fatti, ma ne mette in discussione i presupposti epistemologici. Il film stesso, attraverso questa articolazione sonora e visiva, diventa un dispositivo riflessivo. Le autrici sembrano interrogare non solo il tarantismo in quanto fenomeno storico e culturale, ma anche le modalità con cui esso è stato e continua a essere osservato, narrato, rappresentato. L’operazione filmica si avvicina così alla logica della “meta-etnografia”, in cui la narrazione include al proprio interno la consapevolezza dei propri strumenti e dei propri limiti.

Review

Anja Dreschke and Michaela Schäuble's "Tarantism Revisited" emerges as a significant ethnographic film that re-engages with a historically rich and culturally complex phenomenon: the melotherapy of tarantism. Produced by EMB – Ethnographic Mediaspace Bern and Petit à Petit Cologne, this 145-minute (preliminary version) film promises a deep dive into a subject well-established within Italian anthropology and ethnomusicology. What immediately distinguishes this work, as described, is its highly innovative and engaging approach to narrative construction, deftly interpolating historical documentation with contemporary footage. This method creates a layered storytelling experience that reflects not only the historical dimension of tarantism but also its enduring presence and transformations in the modern era, setting a high bar for contemporary ethnographic filmmaking. The film's methodological sophistication extends beyond a simple juxtaposition of past and present. Instead, it fosters a critical "dialogue between ethnographic and cinematographic times," ensuring that these temporalities interweave without ever fully merging, thereby maintaining a productive analytical tension. This critical stance is further amplified by a masterful use of sound, which combines voice-overs, direct sound, original compositions, and archival recordings to forge a truly "multivocal soundtrack dense with meaning." This deliberate articulation of sound and vision transforms the film itself into a reflexive device. It transcends mere objective recording, actively questioning the epistemological underpinnings of documenting cultural phenomena, and prompting viewers to consider not just tarantism, but also the very modes through which it has been, and continues to be, observed, narrated, and represented. This meta-ethnographic approach, where the narrative inherently acknowledges its own tools and limitations, marks a profound contribution to the genre. In conclusion, "Tarantism Revisited" appears to be more than just a historical or contemporary account; it is a profound meditation on the nature of ethnographic inquiry itself. By constructing a sophisticated interplay of visual and auditory elements across different temporal planes, Dreschke and Schäuble challenge conventional documentary practices and offer a nuanced, critical perspective on a canonical subject. The film's commitment to reflexivity and its meta-ethnographic ambition suggest it will serve as an invaluable resource for scholars of anthropology, ethnomusicology, and film studies, pushing the boundaries of how complex cultural phenomena can be represented and understood within an academic and artistic context.

Full Text

Comments

You need to be logged in to post a comment.