A Map of the Periphery: Documenting Cities Through the Derivatives of Reality

The text explores alternative approaches to representing cities in documentary film through the concept of the periphery. The periphery functions not only as a spatial category but also as a semantic one, in the sense of liminality or marginality. The documentary films by Anja Medved and Nadja Velušček are placed alongside My Winnipeg (2007) by Guy Maddin, Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003) by Thom Andersen, and News from Home (1976) by Chantal Akerman. Each of these filmmakers enables an entry into the city through the so-called derivatives of reality: memory, mythology, fiction films, and letters, through which the image of the city they present constantly shifts in a rhizomatic manner.

The integral version of this article can be found in the printed KINO!