Athens Summer School in Visual Ethnographic Practices
7 – 27 July 2025
Applicants:
Students from the last year BA, Master & 1st year PhD
in Social/Political Sciences, Humanities, Fine Arts & Film Studies
The Ethnofest – Athens Ethnographic Film Festival, in collaboration with the University of Amsterdam (UvA), organises the intensive “Athens Summer School in Visual Ethnographic Practices”.
We are excited to welcome you to Athens from July 7th to July 27th. During your time here, you will immerse yourself in the city’s rich offerings, spark your creativity through the visual stimuli of your urban surroundings, participate in collaborative practices, and enhance your skills in ethnographic methods.
About the School
Visual anthropology and multimodal ethnography are increasingly crucial for those engaged in ethnographic research, visual analysis, or material culture studies, as well as for critical discussions about cinema and various forms of cultural expression. By exploring the methodologies available and reflecting on their application in urban settings, we aim to highlight the significance of visual ethnographic practices and documentary filmmaking.
The city of Athens offers an excellent setting for participants to explore what camera-based research can accomplish. During summer school, we will concentrate on visual theory and the practical application of audio-visual tools, while the courses will examine historical and contemporary examples of ethnographic documentaries.
Structure of the school
The school will run from Monday, July 7th, 2025, until Sunday, July 27th, 2025.
During these 3 weeks, the students will be:
Attending lectures
Planning small-scale research
Conducting fieldwork
Receiving supervision for their ethnographic projects
Filming
Editing
Students will collaborate in teams of three to explore the process of creating a 10-minute short film. This project will provide them with valuable hands-on experience and creative skills. A selection of these films will be showcased in a special section called “Initiations” at the Ethnofest – Athens Ethnographic Film Festival in November of the same year.
The seminars and group meetings will run daily in a space situated at the centre of Athens, where the participants will be able to participate in the programme while taking inspiration from their urban surroundings. Field research will take place in selected areas and locations around the city. The seminars will provide students with a general framework of visual anthropology/ethnographic theory and methodology and a basic knowledge of all the steps of ethnographic video production. At the same time, the seminars will introduce them to contemporary approaches to field research in an urban setting through lectures, practical exercises, and guided walks. Students should expect to have one or two sessions per day (e.g. 3h- 6h), while, they will conduct fieldwork and filming in parallel.
Students are encouraged, though not required, to read the literature before their arrival in Greece to prepare for the seminars.
Aim
The school aims to provide the opportunity for students to experience filming in a highly diverse and multi-layered urban setting and obtain an overview of current debates and research topics in visual anthropology and multi-modal ethnography. By learning and participating in the film production process, the students gain practical experience in a new context, develop their skills, work in a team, make new contacts, and present their research topics.
Methodology
The summer school expects students to participate actively in all the courses and conduct visual ethnographic field research in group teams. Their small-scale ethnographic projects could focus on diverse research objects such as life stories, popular beliefs, urban legends, material culture, performative practices, and intangible culture (music, dance, crafts, etc.). Students are encouraged to contact various people to discuss, interview, and materialize their topics, focusing their filming ethnographic process on specific neighborhoods, social networks, civil society organizations, etc. Broader societal questions/approaches that include politics, identities, gender perspective, immigration/migration, religious beliefs, social class, and human rights, among others, can be addressed and framed in concrete ethnographic filming projects.
Participants will record and edit original filming material, which will be discussed under the guidance of experienced staff and presented/screened in the format of a short documentary at the end of the school. The supervisors will guide and encourage students to follow a clear idea and an ethnographically meaningful narrative plot to create their storytelling.
Course requirements, language, and evaluation
The course is open to students from the last year of their BA to Master’s degree and first year PhD. All lectures will be delivered in English. The participant’s performance during courses, their final product (short film), and a one-pager presenting the film will be discussed at the end of the school. The student groups also have the opportunity to submit their films – with minor revisions and corrections – to the special section of Ethnofest – Athens Ethnographic Film Festival titled “Initiations.”
Courses period, dates, and times
The school consists of 21 intensive days with lectures, field research, filming, and editing. Classes, including breaks, are daily for the first half of the school term. The rest of the time, students will conduct fieldwork research, filming, and editing under the supervision of their tutors.
Participation – application
Students can apply using this online application form.
Application Timeline
Application Deadline: Friday, 21st of March 2025
Notification of Successful Applicants: Friday, 4th of April 2025
Confirmation of Participation: by Friday, 11th of April 2025*
*Note: Failure to confirm will result in the position being offered to the runners-up on the waiting list.
Zoom Call with Final Participants: Thursday, 24th of April 2025
Students are encouraged to bring their own equipment and laptops in order to make their training process smoother; however, the summer school will provide in-rotation cameras, audio equipment, and laptops for editing per group of students. Please fill in the relevant section of the application form.
The number of participating students is limited (max. 18 to 21).
Costs and subsidies
The total cost of the course is 850€ for EU and international students. Greek students are eligible for a concession fee of 600€. Students are expected to cover their flights from their country of residence to Athens and back, as well as their accommodation and lunch and dinner costs. Upon confirmation of the participants, the selected students will be contacted to discuss the prospect of sharing accommodation.
Important information for candidates applying to the Athens Summer School in Visual Ethnographic Practices
As the programme takes place during the summer season, when the temperature in Greece is relatively high, we recommend that the participants keep this in mind while preparing for their stay. Lightweight clothing, portable fans, water bottles, and hats would be of great use.
What to expect
Three intensive weeks of theory courses, stimulating discussions and critical engagement, introduction to technological media to facilitate your filmmaking process, and consulting sessions with your tutors. Also, walks and cultural visits. These days will be heavily loaded to give the participants a complete sense of what visual ethnographic practices entail. For the smooth flow of the programme, it is essential to acknowledge the importance of team bonding, cultivating safe spaces for collective discussions, troubleshooting, and horizontal decision-making in the working groups.
What not to expect
This is an ethnographic documentary filmmaking programme. Our primary concern is that the participants leave feeling richer in ethnographic documentary filmmaking rather than necessarily acquiring technological novelties to create a highly professional visual product. Prior knowledge of technical skills such as editing and shooting is appreciated and will be considered when forming teams to ensure skill diversity in each group. The equipment used will complement these goals but is not our main priority.
Further announcements will follow at the end of the selection procedure around mid-May.
For more information regarding the course, please contact:
Leda Dialyna, Summer School Coordinator,
email: edu@ethnofest.gr, www.ethnofest.gr
