On September 18th 2024, Mihai Andrei Leaha &  Paula Bessa Braz presented an online workshop on Collaborative Ethnographic Filmmaking in the Digital Age: A Case Study of the film: “Drags in da’ House”. Mihai and Paula are both (visual) anthropologists and filmmakers who have worked on several award-winning ethnographic films, curated ethnographic film festivals and taught at various universities. They kindly agreed to offer an online workshop for participants of our study program.

This workshop explored the evolving landscape of collaborative ethnographic filmmaking through the lens of the project “Drags in da’ House.” Participants examined how two anthropologists and three drag queen artists from São Paulo navigated the challenges of creating an ethnographic film during the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing the boundaries of participatory video methods.

Paula Bessa Braz is a Brazilian anthropologist and filmmaker. She conducts her Ph.D. research in Social Anthropology at the University of São Paulo, exploring music education for social development in Brazil and its ties to colonial heritage. Her first ethnographic film, “Canto de Família” (2020), has been screened at notable festivals and was awarded by the Brazilian Anthropological Association. She has also curated and programmed for ethnographic film festivals and offered workshops on multimodal anthropology, musical and audio-visual ethnography, and visual methods for ethnomusicological research.

Mihai Andrei Leaha is a visual anthropologist and filmmaker from Romania. His research focuses on visual disinformation, AI, DIY practices and music. He has authored numerous publications and created several award-winning ethnographic films, including “Valley of Sighs”, “Canto de Familia” and “Sensorhythms”. He is co-chair of the Commission on Visual Anthropology (IUAES-WAU) and has taught at various universities in Romania and Brazil. Currently, he works as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Barcelona at the ERC project Visual Trust.