with Jorge Campos about the film In The Year Of The Pig (EUA, 1968, 102'), by Emile de Antonio
with Jorge Campos about the film In The Year Of The Pig (EUA, 1968, 102'), by Emile de Antonio
In X-RAYDOC we examine films whose significance is indispensable to any History of Documentary, understood through one of its defining structural principles: the relationship with the other, situated within a specific context. From this relationship emerge decisive implications, particularly in the realm of narrative choices, shaped by both ethical and aesthetic considerations.
Since reality—the raw material of documentary—is itself in a constant state of transformation, documentary cinema unfolds into an almost infinite multiplicity of forms, perspectives, and expressive strategies. This diversity is intrinsic to a cinema that interrogates its own time and those who inhabit it. It is within this territory that the documentary gaze is forged—and, with it, an entire theory of documentary.
Some documentaries have influenced the outcome of wars, contributed to the exoneration of death-row prisoners, challenged established truths, exposed intolerable realities, and transformed the lives of thousands of people. Others have transformed cinema itself.
It is within the horizon of this unique capacity for intervention, reflection, and reinvention that X-RAYDOC positions itself. Its purpose is not merely to analyse seminal works, but to develop a critical reading that extends beyond the film itself, exploring its historical, aesthetic, ethical, and political implications.
Produced at the height of the Vietnam War, Emile de Antonio’s documentary chronicles the war’s historical roots. With palpable outrage, De Antonio (Point of Order, Underground) assembles period interviews with journalists, politicians, and key military personnel and international newsreel and archival footage to create a scathing chronicle of America’ escalating involvement in this divisive conflict. The savage and horrific images speak for themselves in perhaps the most controversial film of de Antonio’s career, and the film he cites as his personal favorite. 1969: Academy Awards (Oscars): nominated to Best Documentary Feature.
Director and Screenwriter: Emile de Antonio / Cinematography: Jean-Jacques Rochut / Music: Steve Addiss / Produção: Emile de Antonio, Turin Film Productions / Running time: 103 min.
Emile de Antonio (May 14, 1919 – December 15, 1989) was one of the most influential and controversial political filmmakers in the United States during the Cold War. He openly rejected the purported objectivity of the cinéma vérité movement, instead crafting highly analytical, visceral, and provocative compilation documentaries. Rather than relying on omniscient voice-over narration, he constructed powerful ideological arguments through an innovative montage of archival footage, television news broadcasts, and unmediated interviews. IN THE YEAR OF THE PIG, the first major documentary made about the Vietnam War, remains a landmark work of political cinema and one of the most powerful antiwar statements ever committed to film. Juxtaposing interviews with newsreel and archival footage edited for maximum impact, director Emile de Antonio traces the history of the conflict from its roots in French colonialism to the rise of Communist leader Ho Chi Minh to the U.S.’s involvement in the region. A devastating indictment of America’s role in the war made while it was still raging, IN THE YEAR OF THE PIG dared audiences to question the official narrative and their own complicity in it.
He holds a PhD in Communication Sciences from the University of Santiago de Compostela and is a specialist in documentary film, a higher education lecturer, a journalist, a filmmaker, and a cultural programmer. As a journalist, he has worked in print media, radio, and television—most notably at RTP, where he spent 25 years. He has directed several documentaries and served as the programmer for the Cinema, Audiovisual, and Multimedia division of Porto 2001 – European Capital of Culture, as well as for the "Imagens do Real Imaginado" (Images of the Real Imagined) photography and documentary film series at the Polytechnic Institute of Porto. He runs the blog NARRATIVAS DO REAL.
