editing of a feature documentary, directed by Asad Raza, that premiered at the international film festival rotterdam in 2019.
I did all the editing for this 70 min long film, from preliminary structuring of the footage to picture lock. Limited material combined with a fairly strict cinéma vérité approach made Minor History simultaneously a challenging and a very gratifying documentary to work on. Between the grandeur of the ageing protagonist’s storytelling, the details of his cluttered living space and the fast-paced sequences shot outdoors in Buffalo, NY, the final edit unfolds into a panorama of one human life in the 20th century.
minor history
Description from IFFR Website:Minor History is a portrait of Wahid, the 90-year-old uncle of the director. This true storyteller was born in India in the 1920s, fled to Pakistan, joined the army there and came to the US in the 1980s. He now lives in a cold, snowy city and is a well-known eccentric in the pool halls. The film tries to map out the radical changes in consciousness that the world has gone through in one human life. Shots of Wahid in his everyday life are juxtaposed with footage in which he tells the camera about his past.
Minor History’s primary focus is on its single protagonist. The original materials included several interviews filmed on one camera from a tripod and two days worth of handheld camera takes following Wahid in his daily life. There was no intention of using either personal or historical archive to support these visuals. They were to stay the only materials used in the edit. Similar limitations applied to the sound.
The dramaturgical development, tension and release, and even the overarching conflict of the film are thus achieved in the edit. Through rhythm and pacing, alternating between long takes and complex montage sequences it was possible to entirely avoid using voiceover or music and stay within the intended cinéma vérité framework. The film is dedicated to Jean Eustache whose Numéro zéro served as inspiration for the director.
2′47′′ excerpt, second half of the film
Poster by in the shadow of a tree