Description

Book Synopsis
A Companion to Contemporary Documentary Film presents a collection of original essays that explore major issues surrounding the state of current documentary films and their capacity to inspire and effect change. Presents a comprehensive collection of essays relating to all aspects of contemporary documentary filmsIncludes nearly 30 original essays by top documentary film scholars and makers, with each thematic grouping of essays sub-edited by major figures in the fieldExplores a variety of themes central to contemporary documentary filmmakers and the study of documentary film the planet, migration, work, sex, virus, religion, war, torture, and surveillanceConsiders a wide diversity of documentary films that fall outside typical canons, including international and avant-garde documentaries presented in a variety of media

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors ix

Introduction: A World Encountered 1
Alexandra Juhasz and Alisa Lebow

Part I Planet 19
Juan Francisco Salazar

Introduction 21
Juan Francisco Salazar

1 Crude Aesthetics: The Politics of Oil Documentaries 28
Imre Szeman

2 Anticipatory Modes of Futuring Planetary Change in Documentary Film 43
Juan Francisco Salazar

3 Projecting Sea Level Rise: Documentary Film and Other Geolocative Technologies 61
Janet Walker

Part II Migration 87
Anikó Imre

Introduction 89
Anikó Imre

4 Videogeographies 92
Ursula Biemann

5 Rates of Exchange: Human Trafficking and the Global Marketplace 108
Leshu Torchin

6 Documenting What? Auto-Theory and Migratory Aesthetics 124
Mieke Bal

Part III Work 145
Silke Panse

Introduction 147
Silke Panse

7 The Work of the Documentary Protagonist: The Material Labor of Aesthetics 155
Silke Panse

8 Old School Capitalism in Post-Socialism: The Struggles of Želimir Žilnik’s Workers 176
Ewa Mazierska

9 Capturing the Labors of Sex Work: The Pedagogical Role of Documentary Film 191
Anna E. Ward

Part IV Sex 209
Laura Hyun Yi Kang

Introduction 211
Laura Hyun Yi Kang

10 Documentary Practice and Transnational Feminist Theory: The Visibility of FGC 217
Patricia White

11 Transforming Terror: Documentary Poetics in Lourdes Portillo’s Señorita Extraviada (2001) 233
Rosa-Linda Fregoso

12 Reading Realness: Paris Is Burning, Wildness, and Queer and Transgender Documentary Practice 252
Eve Oishi

Part V Virus 271
Bishnupriya Ghosh

Introduction 273
Bishnupriya Ghosh

13 Animating Informatics: Scientific Discovery Through Documentary Film 280
Kirsten Ostherr

14 HIV on Documentary Television in Post-Apartheid South Africa 298
Rebecca Hodes

15 Digital AIDS Documentary: Webs, Rooms, Viruses, and Quilts 314
Alexandra Juhasz

Part VI Religion 335
Alexandra Juhasz and Alisa Lebow

Introduction 337
Alexandra Juhasz and Alisa Lebow

16 Rising in the East, Sett(l)ing in the West: The Emergence of Buddhism as Contemporary Documentary Subject 341
Angelica Fenner

17 The New Religious Wave in Israeli Documentary Cinema: Negotiating Jewish Fundamentalism During the Second Intifada 366
Raya Morag

18 Tran Van Thuy’s Story of Kindness: Spirituality and Political Discourse 384
Dean Wilson

Part VII War 401
Jeffrey Skoller

Introduction 403
Jeffrey Skoller

19 Second Thoughts on “The Production of Outrage: The Iraq War and the Radical Documentary Tradition” 410
Jane M. Gaines

20 One, Two, Three Montages … Harun Farocki’s War Documentaries 431
Nora M. Alter

21 The Unwar Film 454
Alisa Lebow

Part VIII Torture 475
Alisa Lebow

Introduction 477
Alisa Lebow

22 (In)visible Evidence: The Representability of Torture 482
Susana de Sousa Dias

23 Interviewing the Devil: Interrogating Masters of the Cambodian Genocide 506
Deirdre Boyle

24 The Female Perpetrator: La Flaca Alejandra and Operation Atropos 524
Macarena Gómez-Barris

25 Toward the Dark Side: Seeing Detainee Bodies in Documentary Film 536
Anjali Nath

Part IX Surveillance 557
Elizabeth Cowie

Introduction 559
Elizabeth Cowie

26 Architectures of Control and Points of Resistance: Surveillance Culture and Digital Documentaries 566
Sharon Lin Tay

27 The World Viewed: Documentary Observing and the Culture of Surveillance 580
Elizabeth Cowie

28 Surveillance in the Service of Narrative 611
Brian Winston

29 Face Blind: Documentary Media and Subversion of Surveillance 629
Patrik Sjöberg

Index 647

A Companion to Contemporary Documentary Film

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      Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
      Publication Date: 01/06/2020
      ISBN13: 9781119685661, 978-1119685661
      ISBN10: 1119685664
      Also in:
      Interdisciplinary studies

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      A Companion to Contemporary Documentary Film presents a collection of original essays that explore major issues surrounding the state of current documentary films and their capacity to inspire and effect change. Presents a comprehensive collection of essays relating to all aspects of contemporary documentary filmsIncludes nearly 30 original essays by top documentary film scholars and makers, with each thematic grouping of essays sub-edited by major figures in the fieldExplores a variety of themes central to contemporary documentary filmmakers and the study of documentary film the planet, migration, work, sex, virus, religion, war, torture, and surveillanceConsiders a wide diversity of documentary films that fall outside typical canons, including international and avant-garde documentaries presented in a variety of media

      Table of Contents

      Notes on Contributors ix

      Introduction: A World Encountered 1
      Alexandra Juhasz and Alisa Lebow

      Part I Planet 19
      Juan Francisco Salazar

      Introduction 21
      Juan Francisco Salazar

      1 Crude Aesthetics: The Politics of Oil Documentaries 28
      Imre Szeman

      2 Anticipatory Modes of Futuring Planetary Change in Documentary Film 43
      Juan Francisco Salazar

      3 Projecting Sea Level Rise: Documentary Film and Other Geolocative Technologies 61
      Janet Walker

      Part II Migration 87
      Anikó Imre

      Introduction 89
      Anikó Imre

      4 Videogeographies 92
      Ursula Biemann

      5 Rates of Exchange: Human Trafficking and the Global Marketplace 108
      Leshu Torchin

      6 Documenting What? Auto-Theory and Migratory Aesthetics 124
      Mieke Bal

      Part III Work 145
      Silke Panse

      Introduction 147
      Silke Panse

      7 The Work of the Documentary Protagonist: The Material Labor of Aesthetics 155
      Silke Panse

      8 Old School Capitalism in Post-Socialism: The Struggles of Želimir Žilnik’s Workers 176
      Ewa Mazierska

      9 Capturing the Labors of Sex Work: The Pedagogical Role of Documentary Film 191
      Anna E. Ward

      Part IV Sex 209
      Laura Hyun Yi Kang

      Introduction 211
      Laura Hyun Yi Kang

      10 Documentary Practice and Transnational Feminist Theory: The Visibility of FGC 217
      Patricia White

      11 Transforming Terror: Documentary Poetics in Lourdes Portillo’s Señorita Extraviada (2001) 233
      Rosa-Linda Fregoso

      12 Reading Realness: Paris Is Burning, Wildness, and Queer and Transgender Documentary Practice 252
      Eve Oishi

      Part V Virus 271
      Bishnupriya Ghosh

      Introduction 273
      Bishnupriya Ghosh

      13 Animating Informatics: Scientific Discovery Through Documentary Film 280
      Kirsten Ostherr

      14 HIV on Documentary Television in Post-Apartheid South Africa 298
      Rebecca Hodes

      15 Digital AIDS Documentary: Webs, Rooms, Viruses, and Quilts 314
      Alexandra Juhasz

      Part VI Religion 335
      Alexandra Juhasz and Alisa Lebow

      Introduction 337
      Alexandra Juhasz and Alisa Lebow

      16 Rising in the East, Sett(l)ing in the West: The Emergence of Buddhism as Contemporary Documentary Subject 341
      Angelica Fenner

      17 The New Religious Wave in Israeli Documentary Cinema: Negotiating Jewish Fundamentalism During the Second Intifada 366
      Raya Morag

      18 Tran Van Thuy’s Story of Kindness: Spirituality and Political Discourse 384
      Dean Wilson

      Part VII War 401
      Jeffrey Skoller

      Introduction 403
      Jeffrey Skoller

      19 Second Thoughts on “The Production of Outrage: The Iraq War and the Radical Documentary Tradition” 410
      Jane M. Gaines

      20 One, Two, Three Montages … Harun Farocki’s War Documentaries 431
      Nora M. Alter

      21 The Unwar Film 454
      Alisa Lebow

      Part VIII Torture 475
      Alisa Lebow

      Introduction 477
      Alisa Lebow

      22 (In)visible Evidence: The Representability of Torture 482
      Susana de Sousa Dias

      23 Interviewing the Devil: Interrogating Masters of the Cambodian Genocide 506
      Deirdre Boyle

      24 The Female Perpetrator: La Flaca Alejandra and Operation Atropos 524
      Macarena Gómez-Barris

      25 Toward the Dark Side: Seeing Detainee Bodies in Documentary Film 536
      Anjali Nath

      Part IX Surveillance 557
      Elizabeth Cowie

      Introduction 559
      Elizabeth Cowie

      26 Architectures of Control and Points of Resistance: Surveillance Culture and Digital Documentaries 566
      Sharon Lin Tay

      27 The World Viewed: Documentary Observing and the Culture of Surveillance 580
      Elizabeth Cowie

      28 Surveillance in the Service of Narrative 611
      Brian Winston

      29 Face Blind: Documentary Media and Subversion of Surveillance 629
      Patrik Sjöberg

      Index 647

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