TY - JOUR AU - Waldram, James PY - 2020/10/27 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Participatory Ethnographic Film: Video Advocacy and Engagement with Q’eqchi’ Maya Medical Practitioners in Belize JF - Engaged Scholar Journal: Community-Engaged Research, Teaching, and Learning JA - ESJ VL - 6 IS - 1 SE - Essays DO - 10.15402/esj.v6i1.68231 UR - https://esj.usask.ca/index.php/esj/article/view/68231 SP - 77-90 AB - <p>There continues to be significant debate about what constitutes an “ethnographic film.” Contemporary standards for production require large budgets and sophisticated film crews, and as a result marginalizes those films produced at the local level designed to meet local needs. This article documents the process of creating a participatory ethnographic film at the behest of a group of Q’eqchi’ Maya medical practitioners in Belize. From conception through to the approval of the final cut and distribution, the project was directed by the practitioners and executed on a shoestring budget and ‘in kind’ contributions.&nbsp; I argue that the genre of ethnographic film must accommodate local level aesthetic sensibilities about what constitutes a “good” representation of cultural issues, and consider the nature of the intended audience, thereby allowing space for a collaborative filmmaking process attendant to the world of the participants rather than that of international film festivals.</p><p>&nbsp;</p> ER -