The Parallax Effect: the Impact of Aboriginal Media on Ethnographic Film

Ethnographic film no longer occupies a singular niche. Other voices call to us in forms and modes that blur the boundaries and genres that represent distinctions between fiction and documentary, politics and culture, here and there. For those situated in the larger, nonspecialist audience outside of anthropology per se, these other voices often seem more incisive, informative, and engaging...The voice of the traditional ethnographic filmmaker has become one voice among many. Dialogue, debate, and a fundamental reconceptualization of visual anthropology in light of these transformations is, quite simply, essential (Nichols 1994: 64).