Description
Book SynopsisIn recent decades, a type of historical documentary has emerged that focuses on tightly circumscribed subjects, personal archives, and first-person perspectives. Efrén Cuevas categorizes these films as “microhistorical documentaries” and examines how they push cinema’s capacity as a producer of historical knowledge in new directions.
Trade ReviewCuevas’ monograph achieves its ambitions. It proves that investigative history can be communicated via documentary film; and it demonstrates this potential, in particular, in the case of microhistorical documentaries. Its analysis of home videos as a suitable source is especially strong, revealing how they can be integrated into film and contextualised without drawing upon expository methods. -- Stuart A. Neave, University of St Andrews * Frames Cinema Journal *
Among the many books being published today on film and history,
Filming History from Below stands out for the uniqueness of its approach and its excavation of a previously untapped subject. Cuevas shows how microhistorical documentaries significantly broaden our understanding of movements, moments, and people of the past and thus add to the broader discourse of history. -- Robert Rosenstone, author of
History on Film/Film on HistoryIn
Filming History From Below, Cuevas coins the term “microhistorical documentary,” bringing together two disciplines to examine how documentary film can contribute to a radical, more inclusive understanding of the past. He analyzes films by masters such as Jonas Mekas, Rea Tajiri, Péter Forgács, and Rithy Panh to offer a fresh take on the importance of the perspective ‘from below.’ The films’ subjects relate to burning issues like immigration, statelessness, totalitarianism, and genocide, and Cuevas makes a highly persuasive case for why microhistorical documentary matters. A challenging, original, and important book. -- Deirdre Boyle, The New School
Cuevas makes a strong and convincing case for the emergence and significance of what he calls the microhistorical documentary. His astute theorization of this category grounds deep, contextualized studies of films by a variety of documentary filmmakers who evince a microhistorical attitude in cinema. This significant, admirably written book will be of interest to anyone concerned with documentary cinema and with representations of history on film. -- Philip Rosen, author of
Change Mummified: Cinema, Historicity, TheoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction: Film and History
1. Microhistory and Documentary Film
2. The Archive in the Microhistorical Documentary
3. Péter Forgács’s Home Movie Chronicle of the Twentieth Century:
The Maelstrom,
Free Fall, and
Class Lot4. The Incarceration of Japanese Americans During World War II:
Something Strong Within,
A Family Gathering,
From a Silk Cocoon, and
History and Memory5. Rithy Panh’s Autobiographical Narrative of the Cambodian Genocide:
The Missing Picture6. Identities and Conflicts in Israel and Palestine:
Israel: A Home Movie,
For My Children,
My Terrorist,
My Land Zion, and
A World Not Ours7. The Immigrant Experience in Jonas Mekas’s
Lost, Lost, LostEpilogue: Looking to the Future
Filmography
Notes
Bibliography
Index
