Filmmaking at the borders: Improvisation and (Re)Presenting others

This practice-based research develops new improvisational filmmaking methods that move beyond problematic refugee narrativisation, particularly addressing how “sympathetic” portrayals often inadvertently reinforce the notion of refugees as “suffering subjects”. Through the making of a feature-length film, La Rabbia (85 mins) in a small Italian village experiencing tensions between locals and refugees, this research explores how improvisation can generate more ethically nuanced representations.

The research develops three interconnected methods: “Recalling Emotion” uses improvised auditions and role play to generate story material; “Relational Scripting” employs group-based story development workshops to create narrative collaboratively; and “Scripting-with-Things” harnesses spontaneous improvisation during production to realise and expand upon the developed material. These methods fundamentally reconfigure traditional filmmaking hierarchies, replacing them with more fluid, situated and collaborative approaches that give participants greater agency in how they are represented.

The research makes an original contribution to knowledge by developing specific improvisational methods within filmmaking practice that enable more complex representations of refugee experiences. Rather than focusing on refugee status or trauma narratives, these methods facilitate relational storytelling that explores commonalities between divided communities while acknowledging differences. The resulting film inhabits an ambiguous space between documentary and fiction that resists easy categorisation and challenges viewers’ expectations vis-à-vis form and narrative. This research demonstrates how improvisational filmmaking can create work that moves beyond questions of authentic representation to reach for what Gilles Mouëllic calls another form of truth (Mouëllic, 2013) – one that embraces complexity and ambiguity.

The film has already premiered at the La Salina Documentary Festival in Italy, where it instigated many conversations from the audience in the Q&A, and most importantly, it was screened in the village at a screening where both the refugees and the villagers were present together.