Collecting Lived Experiences. The Diary Film as an Anthology of Daily Life

In the works of many contemporary filmmakers (Jarman, Caouette, Mekas, Sokurov, Morder, etc.), the diary film corresponds to a poetics based on the plural text (Odin) and the open form (Blanchot). As a virtually infinite collection of filmic snapshots, the diary films represent a sort of anthology which has an undefined and personal direction (De Greef). It is indeed a developing process that, unlike the archive system, can be naturally defective. If on the one hand the archive can be considered as a complete encyclopaedia of cases, corresponding to accurate and univocal classification criteria, on the other hand anthology can be compared to a collection of finds and experiences, without any sign of completeness or irrevocability. \r\nConsidering the relationship between archive and anthology, we can notice at least two questions about the subjectivity’s appearance in diary practices. Firstly, the subjectivity inserts an opening in the classified materials and introduces an unmanageable element that cannot be reduced within a general criteria. Secondly, the collecting practices, seen as a way to produce controlled worlds of meaning is crossed by subjectivity that always reopens these worlds due to its uncoding nature (Barthes). Presenting a series of case analysis we will see how the individual/subjective element can bear and escape at the same time the classification criteria and the gathering processes.