New Article!
Resisting Alternative Images. An Ethnography of Visual Disinformation in Brazil (2024)
The article is written together with Roger Canals and is published in Cultural Anthropology Journal
The film Verdade&Mentiras is included in the publication.
New article!
Sounding of the idols. Visual deception and religious images in Brazil (2024)
read here
New online film!
A family decides to open a classical music school in their own house, on the outskirts of Fortaleza, Brazil. The Cruz' brothers organize themselves to teach what they love to other children in their neighborhood. Little by little, their house becomes a place for musical gatherings in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Fortaleza. But, in order to make a living out of music, they might need more. How far can music take them?
Family Song 74 min. 2020 (Full film online)
Brazilian Anthropological Association (ABA) Prize:
Pierre Verger Prize 2022 (second place for feature ethnographic films.
Special Mention In-Edit Brazil 2020
Astra Film Festival 2021
Ethnofest Athens 2021
Riga Pasaules Film Festival 2021
Goettingen International Ethnographic Film Festival 2022
Hi, I'm Mihai. I'm a multimodal and experimental ethnographic filmmaker, and an Associate Professor at UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, where I teach Visual and Multimodal Anthropology.
I was born in Transylvania, asked my questions in the streets of São Paulo, sharpened them in Barcelona, and now ask them from northern Norway.
I make films that experiment with how we see, hear, and sense the world. My films and research move across visual disinformation and trust, embodied music cultures, popular culture, Roma studies, and the social and material stakes of generative AI.
I also, chair the Commission on Visual Anthropology of IUAES and sit on the editorial board of the ZARE magazine.
