Vancouver and the quotidian: exploring everyday urbanity through film

In broadest terms, this project explores the potential of experimental documentary film for examining experiences of history in urban everyday life. The project consists of a written component, providing a theoretical discussion, and a film component, applying these theoretical insights to a documentary about the city of Vancouver. I am investigating two theoretical concepts: Lefebvre's 'moments' and Barthes' 'punctum', connecting them, with the help of the theories of everyday life, to the issue of co-existence of past and present. These concepts are shown to share the characteristics of ephemerality and impossibility, disruption of conventional time, and challenge to the alienation of the everyday. I also address specific filmmaking methods that could translate the theoretical framework established earlier, to the medium of film. I take practical concepts, such as documentary mode of reception, relationship of image and sound, and formal juxtaposition, and explore them in relation to particular examples of film.