Imagined Pasts, Possible Futures: The Playful Mode of Cinematic Remembering

The playful mode of remembering through film is the focus of this chapter. It distinguishes itself by disrupting the ‘truth-telling’ status of testimony and focusing, instead, on the more imaginative and creative aspects of remembering. As I explain with reference to various examples, films in the playful mode suggest that memory requires the investment of imagination, creation and even a degree of fiction. They focus on the subjective and fluid nature of memories, as do films in the reflective and diaristic modes, but whereas these latter two approach the past with solemnity and gravitas, the former is characterized by a ludic, sometimes irreverent attitude to the dictatorial past that invites us to remember more freely. Sometimes, this entails forgoing historical fact altogether to imagine how the past might have been. Through autofiction and the combination of different media and genres, these films generate new scenarios and hypotheses about the past, present and future. These and other features are explained in relation to the following case studies: Ana. Sem Título/ Ana. Untitled (Lúcia Murat 2020), Deslembro/ Unremember (Flávia Castro 2018) and Teatro de guerra/ Theatre of War (Lola Arias 2018).