Self portrait, voice and body in recent documentaries

Abstract

This article offers an analysis of the rhetoric and narrative elements of recent documentaries, especially those that develop personal stories, autobiographies and self-portraits. These personal documentaries are currently very popular and show a wide variety of ways in which the author´s character is presented. Different productions are discussed, highlighting the presence of the voice and body of the authors in the stories. The body offers a materiality where the cinematographic language leans. The article also explores the use of archive material and how personal memories dialogue with collective memory through intimate stories. The article’s discussion is based on recent Colombian documentaries along with some Latin-American examples, without pretending to be a comprehensive analysis of the region’s productions.