Testigos

Testigos is based on and adapted from a text by writer and critic Claire MacDonald, the film explores the relation between documentary form and storytelling.

A group of survivors of a flood recount their experiences to camera as if they are being interviewed. The material is initially consistent but gradually begins to fracture into narrative variations. The actors are Spanish and speak in Spanish, although English subtitles are also provided which differ subtly from the spoken text. The images are static but highly treated digitally and reminiscent in texture of the photographic portraiture of American Civil War photographer Matthew Brady. The digital nature of the film's texture is made explicit, and this contradiction is an important aspect of the film's engagement with the viewer and a specific component of its creative investigation.

The work is based on research into the forms of cinematic construction in the space between the codes of documentary and fiction and into methods of digital treatment of the image. Conceptually the operation of the codes and forms are an explicit part of the film’s problematic and are a major element of the works original contribution.

The film is both narrative and self deconstructive of its own narrativity, revealing inconsistencies and contradictions both in form and content but fundamentally explorative the pragmatic way in which both the characters within the film and the viewers themselves use narrative to create meaning from conflicting information.

Peter Brooks

Research Interests

Contemporary Performance Design and Practice
The relationship between Design and Dramaturgy.
Post Dramatic Dramaturgies
Current Research
My current Research is practice based, and focuses on developing and understanding the dramaturgical opportunities offered by the use of new media (in particular digital film) within live performance.