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Abstract: This article proposes a (re)definition of the qualifier “vernacular” applied to video. First, we draw a brief genealogy of the use of the term “vernacular video” in English and French academic literature. Next, we try to list the essential characteristics of the vernacular video while noting the “vernacularization” undergone by the videographic media in the first decade of our century. Then, we hypothesize a progressive process of artistic institutionalization of the vernacular video which may have taken place since the 2010s. Finally, we present three examples of cinematographic appropriation of vernacular videos, showing the appropriation of vernacular videos by the artistic authority, and we reveal the political and aesth-ethical stakes of these practises.