Human Rights Documentaries as Representational Practice
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Citation/Eksport

Gandsman, Ari. 2012. “Human Rights Documentaries As Representational Practice: A Narrative and Aesthetic Critique”. Academic Quarter | Akademisk Kvarter, nr. 5 (december):8-19. https://doi.org/10.5278/ojs.academicquarter.v0i5.2868.

Abstract | Abstract

In recent years, human rights film festivals have proliferated across the globe. Often co-sponsored by human rights organizations like Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch. While human rights documentaries are not a widely identified subgenre of nonfiction film, they can be situated within a wider tradition of non-fiction filmmaking that engages in social and political issues, motivated by the underlying premise that films can effect change. Human rights documentary are often auto-denominations based on filmmaker intent, political engage¬ment, or topical focus. Although human rights documentaries should be disquieting, their aesthetic form ends up conforming to what will be shown in the article to be a problematic aesthetic and narrative template at odds with their aims. This article will offer a critique of this dominant representational style through an analysis of China Blue, directed by Micha Peled. China Blue will then be contrasted with Last Train Home, a 2009 film on the same topic, which adopts a representational style that contrasts sharply with China Blue. 

https://doi.org/10.5278/ojs.academicquarter.v0i5.2868
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e-pub