"This volume, Shaping Global Cultures through Screenwriting: Women Who Write Our Worlds, tells stories of women who have worked with and within communities to bring the communities’ stories to life through screenwriting. In gathering these examples, we asked for stories that achieved some level
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of impact for the communities. Impact was considered across a number of indices. We wanted to show that attitudes have shifted, policies have been rewritten and the life experiences and ranges of possibility for some have changed for the better as a result of women’s work. We hope to show through our stories that film can change lives; that sharing stories matters; and that women are everywhere, using their skills in screen production for the good of many.
In her excellent book, Women in the International Film Industry: Policy Practice and Power, Susan Liddy (2020) offers ‘a wide-ranging, critical assessment of practice, policy and progress’ to establish the range and scale of gender inequality that currently exists in the world of screen production. She quotes O’Neill and Domingo (2015) to point out that social, economic and political conditions vary, and ‘combine in different ways to enable or constrain women’s agency and leadership’ in screen production (Liddy 2020: 1). In contrast, our book approaches the same problem from the opposite perspective: we seek to correlate the ‘policy, practice and power’ (Liddy 2020) with the actual work of women screenwriters. Our aim is to point out what women screenwriters, creators and filmmakers are doing in disparate corners of the world, and how their effort is positively impacting communities, shaping culture and creating change.
We argue that, despite the fact that women screenwriters are underrepresented in leadership roles in film industries worldwide, the impact of their films remains visible and palpable. We provide evidence that, as women step into the roles of screenwriter, filmmaker and collaborator, using known and emerging technologies, formats and genres under the broad scope of ‘screen production’, they raise the voices of other women and other communities. This volume shows the impact of women’s voices in creating real change for the communities whose stories are told through the topics and themes of these women’s screen works. Not least, this volume seeks to celebrate these women and their communities and bring awareness of that impact to broader communities worldwide." (Introduction, page 1)
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"Perpetrators in Documentaries on Genocide is a wide-ranging comparative study that analyses how numerous genocides and their perpetrators have been presented in documentary film. Spanning seven 20th-century genocides across three continents and combining interviews with filmmakers, distant reading,
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content analysis, and historical research, this book tracks the multifaceted representational strategies of over 200 films. Addressing both the local and global contexts impacting their production, the book finds that the socio-political circumstances in the aftermath of genocide, but also the concept of genocide itself, enormously shape the representation of perpetrator groups and their victims. This book highlights and critiques dominant trends in documentary representation, proposing a broader and methodologically innovative approach to studying the depiction of atrocities that provides an encompassing framework for understanding genocide documentaries." (Publisher description)
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"The story which The Traitors tells is pretty simple and well known to academic scholars who deal with the modern Russian state: it was corrupt from its inception and Putin’s regime is in no way an aberration, but smooth continuity of the Yeltsin system. The documentary precipitated a wave of slan
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derous assaults on ACF and Pevtchikh herself from the “liberal” wing of the Russian opposition outside and inside Russia. They range from obscenities to accusations of Bolshevism, left-wing extremism to collaboration with Putin’s regime. The Traitors broke the main Russian political taboo. In the 1990s, the country underwent a catastrophe of social, economic and political proportions. The 2002 census registered a natural population decline of 1.8 million since 1989. Public discussion about this period was, however, impossible as it could undermine both Putin and “liberal” opposition." (Page 1)
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"The Rwandan genocide is the second most audio-visually recreated genocide after the Holocaust, with approximately 200 films and documentaries produced in 39 countries between 1994 and 2021. Historical Media Memories of the Rwandan Genocide studies the construction, the development, and the recreati
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on of the transnational historical media memory of the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994. This is the first comprehensive work that traces the international media image and the creation of historical memories of the Rwandan genocide, starting with the day to day television news reporting in 1994, and continuing with analyzes of how the genocide has been used and recreated in film and documentaries on a global level as well on a national level, where Rwanda, as a nation, creates its own images of the genocide in film and television production in order to support a new national identity." (Publisher description)
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"Animated documentaries dealing with the Holocaust, Holocaust survivors, and their descendants constitute a new phenomenon and inaugurate a new field of Holocaust commemoration. This book is the first comprehensive analysis of animated Holocaust documentaries. It explores movies produced in the USA,
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Canada, Australia, Europe, and Israel. Based on theories developed in the fields of animated documentary, Holocaust studies, cinema studies, trauma studies, and memory studies, this volume discusses the ways in which animated Holocaust documentaries create a new layer of Holocaust microhistory, their advantages, and their disadvantages. It shows how these movies visualize subject matter that previously eluded live-action documentaries such as the unfilmed past and people’s inner worlds. The book shows that Holocaust animated documentaries also have specific shortcomings and have generated a new set of problems relating to Holocaust memory and representation. For example, the vast majority marginalize the horrors and instead focus on bravery, resilience, and hope." (Publisher description)
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"Based on theoretical frameworks of media sociology, political economy of communication and cultural studies, the book traces the development of Chinese documentary and discusses social transformation and cultural representation embodied in documentaries related to China. It is revealed how these wo
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rks witness, reflect and interact with social transitions in all aspects of a modernizing China, as well as how documentary production struggles among and mediates between technology, market, ideology, social forces and professionalism. In terms of future prospects of documentary in an era when media convergence is burgeoning, the author explores feasible paths to further promotion of cross-cultural communication and China’s national image, by analyzing documentary aesthetics and representative cases of documentary practice." (Publisher description)
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"This edited collection aims to document the effects of Covid-19 on film festivals and to theorize film festivals in the age of social distancing. To some extent, this crisis begs us to consider what happens when festivals can't happen; while films have found new (temporary) channels of distribution
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(most often in the forms of digital releases), the festival format appears particularly vulnerable in pandemic times. Imperfect measures, such as the move to a digital format, cannot recapture the communal experience at the very core of festivals. Given the global nature of the pandemic and the diversity of the festival phenomenon, this book features a wide range of case studies and analytical frameworks. With contributors including established scholars and frontline festival workers, the book is conceived as both a theoretical endeavour and a practical exploration of festival organizing in pandemic times." (Publisher description)
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"The landscape of documentaries has changed greatly in the twenty-first century. From a niche form, with few productions, to global distribution via social media. Post-truth documentaries largely have a sense of outsiders challenging the status quo, delivered by self-proclaimed experts with anecdote
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and emotions central to the power of message delivered on free online platforms. In a world of fake news and alternative facts the documentary can still be a device which highlights the SDG issues, engages audiences and promotes discussion. They can be part of a system of regaining the public trust to encourage the political will to continue the agenda and meet the goals. In a post-truth era maybe people need a different form of documentary, one that while continuing critical thinking and research, moves from the expository to other modes or hybrids to inform the debate on SDG’s. Documentaries that are more inclusive then ‘I speaking about us to you’, less patronising than ‘I speaking about them to you’." (Conclusion)
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"Des échanges intertextuels entre films, oralité et écriture ont caractérisé la production cinématographique des années 1990 et un certain nombre d’études leur ont été dédiées. Moins traitées par la recherche sont les relations entretenues par le cinéma avec la télévision et l’In
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ternet, alors que ces articulations sont omniprésentes dans le domaine de la production et de la réalisation de films en amazigh/berbère. Les articles réunis ici sont donc consacrés à l’imbrication du cinéma amazigh/berbère avec l’ensemble des autres médias et visent à répondre aux questions suivantes : quelle est l’influence des autres médias sur la technique et le sujet des films en amazigh ? L’intertextualité médiatique joue-t-elle un rôle dans l’émergence de nouveaux thèmes ? Quelle est la réception des nouveaux thèmes et films ? " (Description de la maison d'édition)
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"This book examines the way in which SDG initiatives have been disseminated by mainstream media, in government discourse and by NGO’s, charitable organisations, and campaign groups. It questions to what extent sustainability narratives are being supported and how they are represented; how saving t
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he environment can be made pertinent to someone who has no access to clean food or running water; and why local initiatives (in which indigenous populations are making a real difference) are overshadowed by multinationals whose attempts to rectify the damage their goods have done gains more credible reportage." (Publisher description)
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"En el umbral del nuevo siglo, las naciones indígenas en Colombia pasaron de ser presentadas en el cine y el video a ser agentes de su representación: para esto, pueblos e individuos han delineado estrategias de apropiación y comunicación. Gente alzada en cámaras analiza cómo dos directores de
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origen indígena, Mileidy Orozco (embera eyábida) y Luis Tróchez (misak), “canibalizan” o se apropian de las cámaras de video en espacios institucionales occidentales —universidades, en este caso— para adquirir una forma de operar con ellas. El resultado de esta transacción entre lo propio y lo ajeno son películas documentales en primera persona del singular, obras que responden a las necesidades políticas y afectivas de los autores, quienes a través del acento autobiográfico reflexionan sobre el exilio, la migración, la desterritorialidad y el racismo en un espacio-tiempo globalizado. Así, este libro es una apuesta por comprender la experiencia individual indígena contemporánea en el mundo histórico a través del dispositivo audiovisual como medio para construir memoria, dialogar interculturalmente o movilizar a las comunidades en procesos de resistencia, entre otros." (Resumen)
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"Greater North Kivu is a region in the East of the DRC characterized by an unending socio-cultural and political crisis that has brought about insecurity, war, massacres, and land conflicts since 1996. Efforts to resolve this war crisis to restore justice and peace have not been successful. The aim
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of this research was to evaluate the film practice in the Greater North Kivu region in the context of this war situation and if those films which were set against this reality had messages that focused on sustainable peace. The specific research questions of the study were: What could be the varying contexts of war and related conflicts from which each of the selected films acquires its character? In what way do the cinematographic messages reflect the context of war in the Greater North Kivu? How do the thematic messages aim to sensitize the population towards peace in the region? What are the opportunities and challenges of film making for peace in the region? What construct emerges as a typology of context and types of persuasion messages that may emerge from selected films of the study. The study adopted a qualitative research design, and constructivism and interpretivism philosophical research paradigms. The target population consisted of film makers in the Greater North Kivu, civil society, community and government leaders. The study concluded that the multiple contexts of the war manifest in the character of the variety of films produced but that the film codes reflecting this reality aim to break and change it thereby creating a new grammar for a new context. In addition, the film for sensitizing works with strategies of arousing emotions that are carefully selected with great sensitivity because of the fragile context of the war situation in its causes, consequences, and what is to be done. The thesis of this study is that the many contexts of the war situation in the region of study manifest themselves in the selected films chosen for the research. In a simultaneous manner the film maker’s codes aim to break the existing contexts to new beginnings. While the film codes may be of the grammar of existing context, their very ambition and motivation is to introduce a new grammar for a vision of a new context, transforming the old one. Based on the findings of the current study, the study recommends the film makers to continue to use potent symbolism in their stories to effectively sensitize the population to the situation and promote the necessary actions. The study recommends to the government and policymakers makers to allocate resources towards the Ministry of Arts and Culture to support local film production, recognizing its potential as a tool for peacebuilding and societal change." (Abstract)
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"This book uses decolonisation as a lens to interrogate political communication styles, performance, and practice in Africa and the diaspora. The book interrogates the theory and practice of political communication, using decolonial research methods to begin a process of self-reflexivity and the cre
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ation of a new approach to knowledge production about African political communication. In doing so, it explores political communication approaches that might until recently have been considered subversive or dissident: forms of political communication that served to challenge imposed western norms and to empower African citizens and their histories. Centring African scholarship, the book draws on case studies from across the continent, including Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana." (Publisher description)
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"The material challenges of funding, commissioning and distribution that are well known to inhibit production of children’s factual content about other countries and cultures operate in parallel with challenges arising from the moral responsibilities inherent in what Roger Silverstone called “th
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e problem of proper distance”. By that he signified a “moral category” requiring filmmakers to provide “context as well as imagination” and be willing to “recognise the other in her sameness and difference”. “Distance” and “difference” have become at once more significant but also more ambiguous at a time of mass forced migration, in which traditions, religions and cultures from distant places are brought together in physical proximity. Based on input from cross-cultural dialogues, screenings and interviews involving European producers of children’s documentaries, this article explores dilemmas and experiences faced in representing the backgrounds and stories of children who arrived in Europe from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the mid-2010s. It shows the resonance of Silverstone’s thinking by revealing that many practitioners themselves apply notions of closeness and distance, both physically and metaphorically, in their choices about combining the familiar and unfamiliar and co-creating content with child participants." (Abstract)
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"Le projet Generation Africa est basé sur des expériences vécues par la jeunesse africaine qui est la plus grande démographie de jeunes dans le monde et dont le futur va déterminer la forme que prendra nos sociétés sur les décennies à venir. La collection comprend 25 réalisateurs et socié
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tés de production sur 16 pays et elle rassemble une myriade de récits liés autour du thème de la migration. Ces récits sont uniques dans le sens qu’ils nous offrent la perspective d’initiés sur des thèmes universels qui ne peuvent que ressortir de témoignages de personnes qui les ont vécus. Grâce à nos partenaires de diffusion de par le monde et la distribution en ligne, un grand nombre de personnes pourra visionner ces récits remarquables sur l’espoir, la perte et la détermination. Mais la sensibilisation ne se traduit pas toujours en changement ou action.
C’est pour cela que la méthodologie d’apprentissage de STEPS assiste les communautés à gérer avec le sujet et à recevoir les outils pour engager l’audience de manière plus effective, pour susciter une discussion constructive avec elle. La méthodologie d’apprentissage de STEPS assiste des animateur.rice.s depuis plus de deux décennies dans l’explication et la coordination de la projection et en les guidant durant les discussions qui s’ensuivent. Ceci a produit des partages en groupe qui sont importants et plein d’empathie Les sujets abordés peuvent aussi bien être liés à la défendre les droits humains qu’à la lutte contre le sigma du VIH/sida. Le guide de facilitation et de vulgarisation de STEPS a pour approche de se concentrer sur des personnes qui font face à des combats que des milliers d’autres personnes de par le monde vivent aussi. Dans ce Guide de Facilitation Generation Africa, les facilitateurs.trices apprendront à acceuillir des projections (en présentiel et à distance) et à utiliser des films pour discuter de problèmes de société suivi de questions pour suivre sur des discussions après chaque projection " (Introduction)
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"The Generation Africa project centres on the lived experiences of African youth, the largest youth demographic in the world, whose futures will determine the shape of global fortunes over the next few decades. Working with 25 filmmakers and production companies from 16 countries in Africa, the coll
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ection weaves together myriad narratives connected through the theme of migration. The stories are unique in that they give an insider perspective on universal themes, which can only come through stories told from the inside. Through global broadcasting partners and online distribution, many people around the world can watch these incredible stories of hope, loss and determination. However, awareness does not always necessarily lead to change or action.
This is where the STEPS learning methodology assists communities to come to terms with the subject matter and receive the tools to effectively engage an audience to elicit a constructive discussion. For over two decades, the STEPS learning methodology has assisted facilitators in explaining and coordinating screenings, and guiding subsequent discussions which has resulted in powerful yet empathetic group sharing.
With subject matter ranging from defending human rights to combating HIV/Aids stigmatisation, the STEPS outreach facilitation guides take an honest, people-first approach to dealing with real battles that millions of people around the world encounter. In this Generation Africa Facilitation Guide, facilitators will be equipped with the knowledge to host screenings (in-person and remote), understand how to use films to discuss social issues and guiding questions for a post-screening discussion." (Introduction)
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"Seit Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts nehmen Konflikte um Land und Ressourcen in vielen lateinamerikanischen Ländern stark zu. Dieses Phänomen einer vermehrt neo-extraktivistisch orientierten Politik bedroht insbesondere Gebiete, in denen indigene Gemeinschaften leben. Im Kontext des indigenen Filmsch
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affens sind derartige Konflikte daher ein zentrales Thema. Wie werden Machtverhältnisse, unterschiedliche territoriale Vorstellungen und Mensch-Umwelt-Beziehungen hier verhandelt? Teresa Millesi analysiert eine Auswahl von Filmen unter Einbezug raumwissenschaftlicher und ökokritischer Ansätze. Im Zentrum steht dabei die Bedeutsamkeit der Filme als Widerstandspraxis gegen die nationalstaatliche Hegemonie." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"This article offers new learnings and recommended practices for documentary-centred grassroots engagement and social change research. These learnings were developed through a community engagement effort in 2020 that centred around a documentary film about racial violence and injustice, 'Always in S
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eason'. Shaped by extended dialogues with industry experts, the filmmaker, local community organizations and more than 100 community participants, these learnings should be of interest to researchers, media makers, organizers, activists, and engagement specialists who wish to engage publics in critical social justice conversations that are not possible through traditional top-down, externally driven methods and engagement approaches alone. Organized around an urgent question – ‘How can participatory methods shift how media is employed and researched for social change purposes?’ – this article responds to a recent call for researchers to avoid ‘re-inventing the wheel’ and to align new work with existing knowledge produced in the field of communication for social change and the long-tradition of community engagement work in the field of documentary." (Abstract)
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"This article examines how documentary film can be employed as visual evidence to create a thick description of environmental injustice among low-social-economic status communities in China. In particular, this article exemplifies the approach with a case study of a 2022 research project on transiti
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onal injustice during China’s phase out coal strategy in the case study of Liupanshui, the largest coal mine in southern China since the 1950s. Drawing upon the author’s environmental documentaries that explored the local struggles and sufferings of environmental injustice in China, the article explores how we can examine environmental injustice via a multidisciplinary approach that combines public policy, environmental studies and documentary filmmaking." (Abstract)
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"Die Geschichte des dokumentarischen Films in Deutschland ist mehr als bloße Filmgeschichte. In ihr spiegelt sich auch die Medien-, Mentalitäts- und Gesellschaftsgeschichte. So thematisiert der Dokumentarfilm seit seinen Anfängen im ausgehenden 19. Jahrhundert die politischen, kulturellen und soz
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ialen Auseinandersetzungen und Umbrüche. Die dokumentarischen Formen, ob in Kino, Fernsehen oder im Internet, haben die gesellschaftlichen Entwicklungen aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven beobachtet, Missstände und Konflikte aufgezeigt und eine Vielfalt filmischer und erzählerischer Innovationen hervorgebracht. Trotz ihres Anspruchs, wirklichkeitsgetreue Abbilder der Realität zu vermitteln, standen sie im Laufe der Jahrzehnte aber immer wieder auch im Dienst von Werbung, Manipulation und Propaganda." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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