Fordlandia Malaise: weak memories, counter-image and futurability

Abstract

Fordlândia, a company-town founded by Henry Ford in 1928 in the Amazon jungle, was a failed project in its endeavor: to produce rubber to challenge the British monopoly over a raw material essential to the Ford Motor Company. Over the years, several images and narratives have been produced about this enterprise. They can be mainly categorized under two designations: utopian city and ghost city. Taking these as a starting point, this text seeks to question the archive’s dynamics in regard to memory and consider the possibility of creating a counter-image to the dominant episteme. In this context, the processes of filming and structuring Fordlândia Malaise (2019), a film shot on location, will be discussed. 

 Article by invitation