Ethnographic Cinema: the Image of the Other

The article explores the domain of cinematographic art which akin to science tends to reveal the meaning and peculiarities of human existence by means of displaying its ethnographic variety. The movement in question has no special designation yet and is referred to as “ethnographic cinema”, “ethnocinema” or “audiovisual anthropology”. The evolution of the ideological motivations of this movement is considered through the lens of the “West/East” dichotomy as imprinting of the Others image. Special attention is given to the notion of “cul tural anthropology” and its implementation in the films made by such masters of the documentary as G. Jacopetti and C. Marker.