The Matrixial Screen Encounter: theorising the inter-subjective gaze in the documentary practice of Kim Longinotto

Abstract

This article applies Ettinger’s (2001) notion of the matrixial to the documentary practice of Kim Longinotto.  It considers this in relation to what I term the matrixial screen encounter, a model that expands the individualistic framing of the unitary auteur and acts as a counter to the notion of the impartial observer within the context of observational documentary.  It applies this model to a scene from Longinotto and Mir-Hosseini’s 1998 documentary, Divorce Iranian Style and demonstrates how the matrixial screen encounter offers a way of mapping and considering the inter-connected, inter-subjective gazes, or layers of power within the scene, which are predominantly female and feminist.  It concludes that the matrixial screen encounter provides a way of re-thinking the unitary, authoritative gaze of the auteur and the supposed impartiality of the camera-as-observer – reinforced by the term observational documentary - where the screen itself becomes a ‘locus of mediation’ at which various matrixes, gazes or layers of power, meet.