Reassemblage (film)

Reassemblage is a 1982 film by Trinh T. Minh-ha, shot in Senegal picturing the dwellings and everyday life of the Sereer people.^[1] The first film by the Vietnamese born filmmaker, writer, literary theorist, composer, and professor, Reassemblage focuses especially on the lives of the village women.^[2] Shot on 16mm film and released in 1982, the film challenges ethnographic documentary conventions (eg. National Geographic^[3]) and explores experimental ways of representing native culture.^[4][5] Minh-ha explains that she intends "not to speak about/Just speak nearby," unlike more conventional ethnographic documentary film. The film is a montage of fleeting images, sounds, and music from Senegal and includes no narration, although there are occasional statements by Trinh T. Minh-ha. None of the statements given by her assign meaning to the scenes, refusing to make the film "about" a "culture". It points to the viewers expectation and the need for the assignment of meaning.