Documentary Filmmaking and Multilingualism – A Dialogue on Practice: Interview with Dr Alastair Cole, Senior Lecturer in Film Practice, Newcastle University, UK
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Sills-Jones, Dafydd
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Abstract
This interview explores Alastair Cole’s multilingual documentary filmmaking as a research practice that contributes to minority language rights, revitalisation, and ethnopolitical visibility. It argues that documentary cinema offers unique insights into linguistic hierarchies, code-switching, and the lived effects of language policy. Case studies such as Colours of the Alphabet and Iorram demonstrate how film engages with colonial legacies, educational systems, and cultural preservation. The article also highlights emerging digital environments – VOD platforms, social media video, and generative AI – that expand access to multilingual subtitling and circulation, while raising ethical questions around representation and translation. It concludes that documentary cinema can function as both research method and advocacy tool, supporting minority language communities and informing policy discourse.
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3605 Screen and digital media, 360503 Digital and electronic media art, 440701 Communications and media policy, 4701 Communication and media studies, 470214 Screen and media culture
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Documentary Filmmaking and Multilingualism – A Dialogue on Practice: Interview with Dr Alastair Cole, Senior Lecturer in Film Practice, Newcastle University, UK. (2026). Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe, 25(2), 90–101. https://doi.org/10.53779/DASJ0906