Portuguese-Brazilian filmmaker Silvino Santos (1886-1970) is best known for his two films on the Amazon region: No País das Amazonas [In the Land of the Amazons] (1922) and No Rasto do Eldorado [On the Trail of El Dorado] (1925). The two pictures offer variations on the expedition film genre and have been analysed and discussed mostly in relation to geographical exploration, nation building, regional identity and (imperialistic) modernity (e.g. Souza 1978; Costa 1996; Martins 2007; Morettin 2011). By contrast, Silvino’s domestic films – made in Manaus, Lisbon and northern Portugal with the Araújo family, at whose service he had been employed – have never merited much attention. Scholars have mentioned this work, but only to set it apart from Silvino’s ‘more serious’ documentaries. In this paper, I argue that the line that separates the two sets of works is thinner than might appear. Both were made in the twenties, in a manner that challenges predetermined boundaries between domestic, industrial, amateur and professional practices. A close reading of the domestic films also reveals affinities (e.g. in structure, tone and themes) and overlaps with the Amazonian films. In the end, drawing on a non-media-centric approach to media that is aware of the risks of methodological nationalism and hagiographical historiographies, I consider how the domestic films made by Silvino Santos and Agesilau de Araújo on both sides of the Atlantic can help us to better understand the intricate cultures that were taking shape around film in the 1920s, when cinema was clearly on the rise, but its nature and status was as ambiguous as ever.

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domestic films,expedition films,film production,early cinema (1920s),film culture