Abstract
Abstract The epistle has long associations with the essay film not only through the notable filmmakers who have used the form, but also in how it addresses an audience. This tendency reflects the lineage of the development of the Montaignian literary essay from private letter to public audience. In this article I explore the use of the epistolary address, both formally within the text, and as part of the filmmaking process in the construction of a subjectivity that is always relational and contingent. Framed by a number of essayistic works that make use of the epistle – the filmed correspondences of José Luis Guerin, Jonas Mekas, Fernando Eimbcke and So Yong Kim (2009–11), Chantal Akerman’s News from Home (1977) and Ross McElwee’s The Photographic Memory (2012) – this article discusses the process of making my film, Closer Than They Appear (Munro, 2016). I also draw on theories of epistolary transcendence of time and space (Naficy) and collective subjectivity (Braidotti). Through these films I propose the letter film to be a transformative process that shifts the filmmaker’s subjectivity towards a more collective and relational position through the act of address.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
