Taking responsibility: Testimonial practices in Rithy Panh’s S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine

2021 ◽  
pp. 174165902110565
Author(s):  
Maria Elander
Keyword(s):  
Documentary Film ◽  
Khmer Rouge ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
The Spectator ◽  
Taking Responsibility

Genocide films have long contributed to public criminology’s exploration into ethics, responsibility and witnessing after atrocity. Whereas post-Holocaust theorisations of testimony have focused on victim testimony (and its limits), a recent wave of documentary films are instead centering on the perpetrators of atrocity. These are raising the question of how to engage with that shared by a person who experienced an atrocity not as its victim but as its perpetrator. This article examines this question through a close reading of Rithy Panh’s documentary film S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing machine (2003), a film that ‘compare[s] eye-witness accounts’ of a handful of men who all experienced notorious Khmer Rouge security centre S-21 either as its prisoners or its staff. I suggest that the confrontations and the bodily gestures by the former staff in S21 constitute forms of testimony, something which has implications for the understanding of both testimony and responsibility, as well as for the positionality of the spectator. The film, I suggest, provides a way to listen to the experiences of the perpetrators of the atrocity, without diminishing the suffering they caused.

scholarly journals Beyond The Historiography: Film Dokumenter Sejarah Sebagai Alternatif Historiografi di Indonesia

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 405
Author(s):  
Aan Ratmanto
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Documentary Film ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The University ◽  
Quality Of Research

The Department of History, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, the University of Gadjah Mada in 2015 made a milestone in the development of historiography in Indonesia. They made a bold move to produce a scholar with a documentary film work instead of a thesis. In the future, it is not impossible that this step will soon be followed by other universities in Indonesia. This paper was written in response to these developments. In this digital era-and in the midst of still low interest in reading in Indonesia-emerged the discourse to seek new media for historiography in Indonesia. The film, especially documentary films are seen as new media that match the characteristics of history because of they both present real-life reality. Moreover, Indonesia with the diversity of tribes and culture and history, of course, save a variety of themes that will not run out to be appointed a documentary. Based on that, this paper will discuss the types, forms, and format of the documentary that is suitable and possible to be produced by history students as a substitute for thesis-considering the cost of film production tends to be higher than thesis research. Thus, the film of a documentary a college student, especially a history produces the quality of research and aestheticsKata 

World Film News

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas S. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Documentary Film ◽  
George Bernard Shaw ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
Graham Greene ◽  
Sergei Eisenstein ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
Christopher Isherwood ◽  
Bernard Shaw

World Film News was a publication that advanced the visibility of the documentary film movement and hosted wide-ranging debates over film, politics, and aesthetics. The magazine was preceded by the Edinburgh based journal Cinema Quarterly (1932–1935) and succeeded by Documentary Newsletter (1940–1947). The first issue was funded by Basil Wright and initially took over the audience for Cinema Quarterly. John Grierson, the brash but passionate leader of the British Documentary Film Movement, exercised editorial control over the magazine, but was careful to include articles by distinguished writers, filmmakers, and intellectuals that might lend a certain gravity to the magazine and his own ambitions. Graham Greene, J. B. Priestley, George Bernard Shaw, Sergei Eisenstein, and Vselovod Pudovkin contributed articles and essays; the magazine also listed W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood as correspondents. As other prominent film journals such as Sight and Sound had ceased to cover documentary films, World Film News became an important venue for propagating ideas about documentary, asserting its cultural sophistication (which was conveyed most baldly by listing its most prominent subscribers and contributors in each issue), and debating technical issues relating to amateur actors, sound, editing, and funding models as well as covering the burgeoning global film scene.

scholarly journals IMPLEMENTATION OF DOCUMENTARY FILM IN TEACHING RUSSIAN

2019 ◽  
pp. 52-61
Author(s):  
Mexriniso YARMATOVA ◽  
Shokhida TURAEVA
Keyword(s):  
Documentary Film ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
State University ◽  
Visual Aids ◽  
Language And Literature ◽  
Language Classes ◽  
Economic Institute

Visual aids play active role in teaching Russian language because they enable students learning the language in better way, giving them opportunity to realize the topic much more as today’s effective method. This paper highlights some ideas of scholars’ for the use of visual aids (e.g., animation videos, documentary films), and an experiment carried out with the staff at the Department of Uzbek and Russian languages, Karshi Engineering-Economic institute as well as with the professor-teachers at the Department of Russian language and literature, Karshi State university, Karshi, Uzbekistan, in order to find out their attitudes according to the use of documentary films in Russian language classes. The findings are shown in the below-mentioned diagram. Рус тилини ўқитишда кўргазмали қўлланмалар самарали замонавий методлардан бири бўлиб, ўқувчиларга тилни мукаммал ўрганишга, мавзуни чуқурроқ англашга ёрдам беради. Мақолада, олимларнинг кўргазмали қўлланмалардан фойдаланишига бўлган муносабатлари ҳақида айрим фикрлари келтирилган(масалан, анимацион виделроликлар, ҳужжатлифильмлар), ҳамда рус тили дарсларида ҳужжатли фильмлардан фойдаланишга бўлган муносабатларини ўрганишда Қарши мухандислик-иқтисодиёт институтининг “Ўзбек ва рус тиллари” кафедрасида, ҳамда Қарши Давлат университетининг “Рус тили ва адабиёти”кафедрасидаги профессор-ўқитувчилар билан сўровнома ўтказилди, Қарши Ўзбекистон Олинган натижалар қуйидагидиаграммада келтирилган. Наглядные пособия играют важную роль в обучении русскому языку, так как они помогают учащимся лучше изучать язык, даютим возможность лучше осознать тему. В статье приводятся мненияпреподавателей и ученых в отношении использования наглядных пособий (например, анимационных видеороликов, документальных фильмов), а также описывается эксперимент, проведенный преподавателями кафедры узбекского и русского языков Каршинского инженерно-экономического института и кафедры русского языка и литературы Каршинского государственного университета для выяснения их отношения к использованию документальных фильмов на занятиях по русскому языку. Полученные результаты показаны на диаграмме.

scholarly journals DOCUMENTARY AS A PHANTOM

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Documentary Film ◽  
Film Studies ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
Semantic Field ◽  
Ontological Status ◽  
Observer Effect ◽  
Non Fiction ◽  
Mutual Transition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Empty Signifier

The aim of the study is to reflect on the problem of the “documentariness” of documentary films based on the refinement of the semantic spectrum of the “documentary” concept. The definitions spectrum of the “documentary” concept in classical and post-non-classical film studies from B. Matushevsky, J. Grierson and D. Vertov to R. M. Barsam, J. Gaines, P. Lorentz, R. D. McKenn, B. Nichols, M. Renov, L. Ward (and others) is analyzed. As a generalization of these definitions, the author’s definition of “documentary” is proposed: the term “documentary” refers to a film not as an affirmative form of a completed film statement, but as an interrogative form of an open film gesture balancing on the verge of “truth” and “fiction”, as the continuity of an implicit mutual transition between non-fiction and fiction methods of cinema narration, a kind of hybrid between the video fixation of authentic facts with documentary value and their cinematic interpretation, which involves a reconfiguration of the reality caused by the “observer effect,” an interpretation of documented facts, and a creative implication of the ideas of the authors of the film. are a kind of hybrid between cinema recording of authentic facts of documentary value and cinematic interpretation of them, which involves reconfiguration of reality caused by the “observer effect”, author's interpretation of documented facts and creative implication of the ideas of movie makers. “Hybrid” genres combining the features of documentary and features of non-fiction film are described: “docudrama”, “mockumentary”, and the “art-dock”. The problem of the “documentariness” of documentary is considered with the help of a number of film cases from L. Riefenstahl, P. Watkins and R. Carmen to V. Mansky, S. Loznitsa and I. Khrzhanovsky. The main conclusion to the study is the assertion that there is sufficient reason to consider “documentary” a very abstracted “empty signifier” – a concept with a “blurred semantic field” and a “weak ontological status”. In general, the “documentariness” of documentary is as much desired as the shaky movie illusion: there are documentary shotings and documentary shots as the primary material of the film, but the “documentary” film as such does not exist, or it is a phantom.

scholarly journals Feasibility of Submatery Documentary Film of Diversity Concepts, Types, Ecosystems Based on Nepenthes

Mangifera Edu ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 78-92
Author(s):  
Alexander Sardi ◽  
Syamswisna Syamswisna ◽  
Titin Titin
Keyword(s):  
Documentary Film ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
Biology Teacher ◽  
Study Program ◽  
Education Study ◽  
Indigenous Forest ◽  
Feasibility Test ◽  
Two Stages

This research aimed to know the Nepenthes plant species in the Nanga Nyabau forest, Kapuas Hulu Regency, and determine the feasibility of documentary film media as a learning media in the Submission of the Concept of Diversity in Genes, Types, and Ecosystems. This research was conducted through two stages. First, the Nepenthes inventory in the Nanga Nyabau Indigenous Forest, Kapuas Hulu District, then continued with the making and feasibility test of documentary films as learning media. The form of this research was descriptive. Sampling used a purposive sampling technique with the explored method. The documentary media was tested for feasibility by five validators. The validators are two lecturers of Biology Education Study Program FKIP Universitas Tanjugpura, one Biology teacher in class X of SMA Negeri 1 Putussibau, one Biology teacher in class X SMA Negeri 2 Putussibau, and one teacher of Biology in class X of SMAS Karya Budi Putussibau. Based on the results, there were five types of Nepenthes plants, namely Nepenthes bicalcarata, Nepenthes mirabilis var. echinostoma, Nepenthes rafflesiana Jack., Nepenthes reinwardtiana, and Nepenthes xneglecta. The CVI value of documentary film media was one and categorized valid to be used as a learning media

scholarly journals Book review: S. A. Chatterji, Filming Reality: The Independent Documentary Movement in India, K. P. Jayasankar & A. Monteiro, A Fly in the Curry: Independent Documentary Film in India and A. Sharma, Documentary Films in India: Critical Aesthetics at Work

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-110
Author(s):  
Ritika Kaushik
Keyword(s):  
Documentary Film ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
Critical Aesthetics

S. A. Chatterji, Filming Reality: The Independent Documentary Movement in India. SAGE Publications, 2015, 320 pp., $59.99. K. P. Jayasankar & A. Monteiro, A Fly in the Curry: Independent Documentary Film in India. SAGE Publications, 2016, 276 pp., $54.99. A. Sharma, Documentary Films in India: Critical Aesthetics at Work. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, XIII, 276 pp., 41.59€.

Leo Tolstoy in the documentary films

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 178-199
Author(s):  
Mikhail Stroganov
Keyword(s):  
Documentary Film ◽  
Leo Tolstoy ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
Film Directors ◽  
The Common

The article deals with the detailed research of the documentary shootings connected with Leo Tolstoy. Starting with the life chron¬icles up to works of modern documentary film directors. The question of difference between the documentary cinema and documentary files that was made by the operators-contem¬poraries of Tolstoy is set as a main problem. They fixed the last years of writer’s life. Their shootings became the basis to many docu¬mentaries made by the foregoing directors (starting from E. I. Shub to G. M. Evtushenko). The genre of the double portrait that is mostly demanded in nowadays documen¬tary cinema add the dramatic tension to the film and helps to rethink already well observed materials. Numerous aspects are summing into the common and vast review of the writer and cinema relations.

Dust and Shadows … A Progress Report

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Russell
Keyword(s):  
General Public ◽  
Documentary Film ◽  
Progress Report ◽  
First Century ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
Non Fiction ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Twenty First Century

This article considers postwar British documentary films in light of recent curatorial initiatives and wider historiographical issues. The article places the BFI's 2010 Shadows of Progress project in the context of a wider and substantial shift of perception of non-fiction film in the early twenty-first century, which has caused the canon of British documentaries to increase in size, scope and profile. The article argues that archivists, media producers and the general public have played at least as large a role in these developments as scholars of the documentary film. The article summarises some of the key features of postwar British documentary as it is now understood and mentions other aspects of postwar, and other, British factual film meriting future research.

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