The Spaces Between Grassroots Documentary ... - Ezra Winton

Cinema Politica is an opportunity to build a sense of place. Susan G. Davis writes that
“…location-based entertainment projects face a central and perhaps paradoxical problem.
Inserted into standardized and relentlessly exploited commercial spaces, they must create
– out of thin air – a sense of place.” (1999, p.445) Cinema Politica, unlike many other
cinema projects (including some grassroots examples like Film Circuit) has concentrated
on the physical locations of universities and colleges, encouraging the “reclaiming” of
campus space from corporations who continue to corporatize Canada’s education
institutions. (Turk, ed., 2000) It is also a “public” space, where campus community and
other groups are somewhat more free from the negotiations of completely commercial
spaces, such as the megaplex. Davis continues: “The key theme park lessons applied to
retail-entertainment are, first, shape and manage spaces to appeal to the most
economically desirable customers, making sure to exclude the undesirables through
price, marketing or explicit policy.” (italics added) (Ibid) While this commentary is
targeted at larger entertainment spaces such as theme parks and “entertainment cities”
(Ibid) Davis connects to the commercially-oriented cinema spaces as gatekeepers
“managing” the flow of audience. Cinema Politica, and other grassroots d/e projects are
anathema to this philosophy of exclusion and maximizing economic potential. As
illustrated, Cinema Politica screenings offer a chance to see alternative media, and more
importantly, to participate in cultural exchange and to build organic, inclusive, and
community-oriented spaces. This is not a new concept, as will be shown in the next
historical example of such grassroots, counterpublic spaces.
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