Universiteit van Amsterdam Faculty of Humanities, Department of Media Studies MA: Preservation & Presentation of the Moving Image
The Power of the Imaginary: The Role of Narrative Fiction Film at the Human Rights Film Festival
Ruth Sweeney Student Number: 10849475 Supervisor: Dr Marijke de Valck Second Reader: Christian Gosvig Olesen
June 26th 2015 The Power of the Imaginary: The Role of Narrative Fiction Film at the Human Rights Film Festival
TABLE OF CONTENTS ————————————————————————————————————————
1. INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………………2 1.1 Observational Overview 2 1.2 Aims and Objectives 4 1.3 Structure 5 1.4 Methodology: Legitimations and Limitations 7 1.5 Historical Context 9 1.5.1 Human Rights 9 1.5.2 Film Festivals 10
2. AN ANALYSIS OF HUMAN RIGHTS FILM ………………………………………………..13 2.1 Origins of the Human Rights Film 13 2.2 Ethics of Spectatorship 16 2.3 The Prominence of Non-Fiction Documentary Film 21 2.4 Interrogating “Truthfulness” 24
3.THE POWER OF THE IMAGINARY: A CASE FOR NARRATIVE FICTION FILM…..26 3.1 The Advantages of Narrative Fiction Film in the Human Rights Context 26 3.2 Reaching New Audiences 30 3.3 Utilising Emotional Engagement for Pedagogical Purposes 34
4. MOVIES THAT MATTER, THE HAGUE……………………………………………………..37 4.1 Festival Background 37 4.2 Overview of Programming: 2015 Edition 39 4.3 Narrative fiction films at Movies that Matter 41 4.4 Film in Focus: Timbuktu, Abderrahme Sissako, France/Mauritania, 2014 46
5.CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………..48
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………………52
1 1. INTRODUCTION ______
1.1 Observational Overview
No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls. - Ingmar Bergman (1918 - 2007)1
Fig. 1, Ingmar Bergman in the 1970s, Source: Pressens Bild via The New York Times, 2007
The above quote, by the legendary film director Ingmar Bergman (fig.1), encompasses the idea shared by many human rights film festivals and their organisers: that the medium of film is powerful enough to tap into our innermost selves. Such human rights film festivals are motivated by the belief that, by penetrating our conscience, film is impacting enough to provoke change and therefore plays an important role in the global quest for justice.2 The notion that what is seen on- screen can be translated into “action” off-screen encapsulates the nature of human rights film festivals, and as Sean Farnel points out, justifies their existence.3 Whilst a number of human rights
1Ingmar Bergman as quoted in Marcel Danesi, Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives (Plymouth: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers,2012), 141.
2Dina Iordanova, “Film Festivals and Dissent: Can Film Change the World?” in Film Festival Yearbook 4: Film Festivals and Activism, ed Dina Iordanova et al. (St Andrews: University of St Andrews Film Studies Department, 2012), 13.
3Sean Farnel as quoted in Alex Fischer, “Hot Docs: A Prescription for Reality: An Interview with Sean Farnel, Former Director of Programming at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival” in Film Festival Yearbook 4: Film Festivals and Activism, ed Dina Iordanova et al. (St Andrews: University of St Andrews Film Studies Department, 2012), 228. 2 film festival programmers, activist filmmakers and film festival theorists refer to this notion of the transformation of the viewer into an “active” spectator, I want to clarify that such festivals are not necessarily aiming to transform all those who attend the festival into fully fledged frontline activists. The purpose is more subtle: to alert consciousness, to spur thought processes and to shape opinion. In this sense having a viewer “act” may not mean that he/she becomes an “activist” but rather that the viewer becomes part of a growing body of opinion that can indeed lead to, or influence, political change.
Unlike mainstream film festivals such as Cannes, Venice or the Berlinale, this transformative element is one of the primary features of human rights film festivals. Whilst the larger festivals may programme individual films, or smaller sections within the broader festival agenda which cover similar topics, film festivals focusing specifically on human rights issues are designated platforms for social advocacy. Such festivals seek to highlight the “social impact of film,” whilst simultaneously aiming to mobilise the festival goer into action by presenting films which expose human rights violations and social injustices.4 Film festival theorist Sonia M. Tascon observes, along with other scholars writing on the topic, that such festivals predominantly screen non-fiction documentary films over narrative fiction films.5 This suggests that the non-fiction documentary film is generally regarded by film festival programmers as a more powerful pedagogical tool than the narrative fiction film, and in turn is more likely to drive the spectator to act. Deriving from the fact that documentary is the predominant medium, film festival theorist Leshu Torchin describes the human rights film festival to be “a field of witnessing” whereby the programmed films should be regarded as “testimonies” and the festival audiences as “witnessing publics”.6 This analysis relies on the idea that the non-fiction documentary film, like testimonials in a juridical setting, embodies the essence of truth and reality. Arguably, the depiction of real people in the real world encourages audience members to engage on a deeper emotional level with the subjects caught on camera, and consequently the spectator is more likely to actively respond to what they have seen on-screen.7
4Cindy Hing-Yuk Wong, Film Festivals: Culture, People and Power on the Global Screen, (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2011), 160.
5Sonia Tascon, Human Rights Film Festivals: Activism in Context, (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), 7.
6Leshu Torchin, “Networked for Advocacy: Film Festivals and Activism” in Film Festival Yearbook 4: Film Festivals and Activism, ed Dina Iordanova et al. (St Andrews: University of St Andrews Film Studies Department, 2012), 3.
7Jeremy Lehrer, “Bringing Abuses to Light: The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival Focuses the Public Eye on Human Rights Abuses” in Human Rights Vol 24, No 3, (1997), 14. 3 Despite the precedence given to the concept of “truthfulness” in this circumstance, a number of human rights film festivals still include in their programme, albeit to a much lesser degree, narrative fiction films. If the presence of non-fiction documentary film at the human rights film festival rests on the assumption of this medium’s closeness to “truth,” then the object of this thesis is to examine the potential contribution of narrative fiction films in the context of such festivals.
1.2 Aims and Objectives
This thesis will interrogate whether the inclusion of narrative fiction films in the human rights film festival programme contributes to the desired network of action, focusing on the differences between the way in which the two mediums, non-fiction documentary film and narrative fiction film, mobilise the spectator. Whilst a number of contemporary film festival theorists have explored the dominance of non-fiction documentary film at these festivals, currently there appears to be little published on the topic which attempts such a comparison. Therefore, in order to frame my analysis I will draw on the work of a number of scholars working in the fields of cultural studies and international relations, most notably Safia Swimelar who has published essays in favour of educating on human rights through fiction film. I will expand upon Swimelar’s theories, transposing them into the realm of film festival studies. This will address a gap in the literature of film festival theory. Furthermore Elizabeth S. Anker, argues that in many cases different art forms, due to their existence in the realm of the imaginary, play an important role in shaping moral principles and ideals that “lie at the heart of a culture’s robust respect for human rights.”8 In this thesis I will apply this claim to fiction film, suggesting that precisely because the medium is not shaped by the constraints of truthfulness as is the case with non-fiction documentary film, it nevertheless serves a vital role in human rights advocacy. Arguably, by reminding us of our ideals through fantasy and imagination, fiction film, like art and literature, can indeed nurture popular awareness of human rights abuses, promote “values and expectations” and encourage the active fight against social injustice.9
Following this line of reasoning, this thesis seeks to challenge the apparent choice made by festival programmers to prioritise the notion of “truthfulness” when selecting films for human rights film festivals. Rather, I will aim to demonstrate that ethical considerations, the messages films deliver
8Elizabeth S. Anker, “Human Rights in Literature” in The SAGE Handbook of Human Rights, ed Anja Mihr et al. (London: SAGE Publications ltd, 2014), 460.
9Ibid. 4 and the circumstances in which they are screened and contextualised, are of paramount importance. I will argue that the inclusion of both fiction and non-fiction films at such festivals allows the overall message of the festival to reach a wider audience, proposing that a more balanced combination of both documentary and narrative fiction film helps a human rights film festival to achieve its primary goal: to “educate, enlighten and mobilise” as many viewers as possible.10
1.3 Structure
The second chapter examines in more detail the concept of the human rights film, briefly tracing its history and emergence as a film genre. I consider the ethics of cinema and spectatorship, drawing on work by Downing and Saxton who claim that all forms of art, including film, are imbued with ethics.11 I explore the set of ethical and political demands negotiated by both fiction and non-fiction films, when they are presented in the human rights context examining how this differs between the two mediums. I analyse the prominence of documentary film at the human rights film festival and interrogate further the theory of the “testimonial encounter” presented by Torchin, and examine why, despite the vast body of published literature that questions the “reality” and “neutrality” of the documentary medium, the understanding of it as a “document of truth” still persists in the context of the human rights film festival. I attempt to look beyond the truth concept in order to justify the place of the fiction film in the festival programme.
The third chapter presents the case for the inclusion of fiction films at the human rights film festival. I consider whether there is a difference between the potential of non-fiction and fiction films to encourage audiences to take action. I frame the argument in the context of cultural theorists who have presented a case for the use of fiction film and literature as a pedagogical tool. Opposing Sobchack’s view, I argue that films do not necessarily have to depict real people in order for the viewer to relate what they see on-screen to the real-world, particularly when films are presented in the context of a human rights film festival.12 This is an idea Tascon touches on, but does not develop.13 I also make the claim that narrative fiction film, whilst it embodies the tropes of mainstream cinema, is a more accessible medium than documentary film, so may attract a broader
10Iordanova, “Film Festivals and Dissent” 16.
11Lisa Downing and Libby Saxton, Film and Ethics: Foreclosed Encounters. (Hoboken: Taylor & Francis, 2010), 1.
12Vivien Sobchack, “Towards a Phenomenology of Nonfictional Film Experience,” in Collecting Visible Evidence, ed. Jane Gaines et al, (Minneapolis; London: University of Minnesota Press, 1999), 244.
13Tascon, Human Rights Film Festivals: Activism in Context, 44. 5 festival audience. I argue that by presenting human rights issues via the medium of fiction film, human rights film festivals combat what Moeller has described as “compassion fatigue.”14 Arguably, by harnessing the spectators’ emotional engagement with narrative storytelling, the “fatigue," caused by the repetitive bombardment of distressing images hurled at us by the media, can be reversed.
Chapter four presents as a case study the Amnesty International film festival, Movies that Matter which is held annually in Den Haag. The festival aims to serve an international community and presents an expansive platform of events and film screenings whereby film is promoted as a “weapon against social indifference.”15 I focus specifically on the festival’s programming, analysing the way in which both non-fiction documentary and fiction films are selected and presented to the audience. I examine how the applied modes of presentation in both cases encourage the active spectator. I was particularly interested to note that this year’s (2015) programme included almost one-third fiction film, a high number compared with other human rights film festivals. The festival website, printed programs, and festival edition newspapers provided a lot of material for analysis. I also gained first-hand observational experience by attending this year’s festival. I evaluate how the contextualisation of film screenings enhance a film’s transformative power, and how this varies between non-fiction and fiction film. The film screenings are not the only component of the human rights film festival, but rather they act as catalysts for discussions, Q&As, educational programmes, and other related events. The film festival is an excellent forum for the advocacy of political and social change because it is an environment that welcomes discussion, encourages debate and attracts an audience of people who are often willing and open-minded enough to absorb new perspectives and opinions.16 Unlike the Q&A sessions that follow mainstream film screenings, the Q&As at a human rights film festival often go beyond the parameters of the making of the film and into the broader realm of the issues and debates raised by the film. The main protagonists of the films, the filmmakers and subject experts, are often invited to take part in discussions following screenings which “extends the emotional engagement into the off-screen space.”17As Tascon puts it the “film festival provides a particular interpellatory context.”18
14Susan Moeller, Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sell Disease, Famine, War and Death. (New York; London: Routledge, 1999)
15“About Us” accessed 15th May 2015, http://www.moviesthatmatter.nl/english_index/over_ons_en
16Roy Carole, “Why Don’t They Show Those on TV? Documentary Film Festivals, Media and Community” in International Journal of Lifelong Education Vol 31, No 3, (2012), 297.
17Torchin, ‘Networked for Advocacy: Film Festivals and Activism.’ 8.
18Tascon, Human Rights Film Festivals: Activism in Context, 43. 6 Chapter five brings together the threads of my research and presents some concluding perspectives. I suggest recommendations for why human rights film festival programmers might consider the selection of a more equal combination of non-fiction and fiction film in order to achieve their goal of exposing human rights violations, disseminating knowledge and mobilising as many viewers as possible into action. This chapter also includes suggestions for further research.
1.4 Methodology: Legitimations and Limitations
I have used a case study research methodology. The use of case studies is common in cultural studies and has proven “extremely valuable” as a research method.19 According to Robert Yin the investigation of a “contemporary phenomenon” (the case) which exists in the real world ensures that the researcher maintains a “holistic and real-world perspective.”20 I have adopted a largely qualitative approach to case study research. Matthew B. Miles describes qualitative research as “a source of well-grounded, rich description and explanation of human processes.”21
I began my research by applying the case study approach to investigate the observation made by film festival theorists that human rights film festivals predominantly programme non-fiction documentary films over narrative fiction films. By focusing on Movies that Matter I sought to investigate the properties of this observation and further develop my research question. The findings of my research are largely based on direct observations whilst attending Movies that Matter - “such observations are one of the most distinctive features in doing case study research.”22 As well as direct observations, I gathered content for analysis via the Movies that Matter website and the festival’s printed material, such as programmes, newspapers and flyers. I have also included some quantitative analysis in order to display the ratio of fiction to non-fiction films programmed at the festival. My aim, through the presentation of such data, is to enhance the validity of my argumentation through supporting evidence. I am aware that whilst many scholars support case study based research methods, the approach has its weaknesses. It has been regarded by some as an
19Ann Gray, Research Practice for Cultural Studies: Ethnographic Methods and Lived Cultures, (London: SAGE Publications, 2002), 68.
20Robert K. Yin Case Study Research: Design and Methods (Applied Social Research Methods) (London: SAGE Publications; Fifth Edition, 2013), 26.
21Matthew B. Miles et al, Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook, (London: SAGE Publications: Third Edition, 2013), 4.
22Robert K. Yin, Applications of Case Study Research, (London: SAGE Publications: Third Edition, 2012),11. 7 ambiguous approach to qualitative research due to its subjectivity and lack of “generalisability.”23 Some suggest that the apparent bias in the case study method results in a “multitude of inferential felonies.”24 In order to combat such criticism my case study is embedded within the framework of existing academic theories and research. I have drawn on literature from film festival studies and the broader field of cultural studies. Whilst referring to pre-existing creditable academic sources is standard secondary research methodology I also hope that this demonstrates my knowledge of the subject and provides a less subjective framework for the case study analysis.25 John Gerring argues that it is such insight which results in a successful case study research approach.26 By marrying my in-depth case study with broader theoretical perspectives I have sought to present a body of research which can be applied to contexts beyond the specific case of Movies that Matter.
My thesis has a number of limitations. As the approach largely rests on a direct observational case study method and secondary research, it lacks original primary data. Therefore, at this stage I offer only speculations that indicate possible directions for further research. For a more thorough analysis of the difference between fiction and non-fiction film in the context of human rights film festivals it would have been beneficial to complete opinion-based surveys using a cross section of audience members exiting screenings at the festival. Furthermore, to gather a more comprehensive overview of the chosen topic it would also be necessary to undertake a cross-case study research project.27 This would examine the practices of a number of different human rights film festivals that programme a combination of non-fiction and fiction film.
Whilst an analysis of the festival programme and a dissection of the website blurb does provide satisfactory “discursive signals of the way in which a festival sees itself,” conducting interviews with festival programmers would also have been advantageous in mapping out the priorities of festival organisers. Due to time constraints I was unable to carry out such extensive primary research so the thesis largely relies on available secondary sources. Nevertheless I hope that I have presented a thorough analysis which addresses a topic that has not yet been explored in detail in the field of film festival studies.
23Yin, Applications of Case Study Research, 18.
24Christopher H. Achen and Duncan Snidal as quoted in John Gerring, Case Study Research: Principles and Practices, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 7.
25Stella Cottrell, Critical Thinking Skills: Developing Effective Analysis and Argument, (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2011) 126.
26Gerring, Case Study Research, 7.
27Ravonne Green, Case Study Research: A Program Evaluation Guide for Librarians, (Westport: Libraries Unlimited, 2011), 77. 8 1.5 Historical Context
The subject of my thesis rests upon two main concepts; human rights and film festivals. I will briefly define these concepts and outline their historical contexts.
1.5.1 Human Rights
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 194828
The above quote is article one of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed by fifty out of fifty-eight of the United Nations member states on December 10th 1948. Whilst the origin of human rights can be traced back to the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215, it is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which has determined the shape of human rights as we understand them today.29 It was with the signing of this document, which was developed from the desire to combat fascism and totalitarianism in the aftermath of World War II, that the “modern rendering of human rights, embodied with legal language, emerged.”30 Johannes Morsink remarks upon the influence of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stating that it transformed the international landscape, “scattering it with human rights protocols, conventions, treaties, and derivative declarations of all kinds.”31 However, even with the establishment of this Charter the concept of human rights is not strictly defined, but rather it remains in a state of constant flux.32 Different historical and geographical circumstances influence the way in which individuals and communities come to comprehend the term. For the last 60 years the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been the subject of criticism for being Western-centric and displaying imperialist principles.33 Herrera Flores and Humberto Mancilla, amongst others, have condemned the concept of human
28United Nations, “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, accessed 15th May 2015, http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
29Helle Porsdam, Civil Religion, Human Rights and International Relations, (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2012), 21.
30Tascon, Human Rights Film Festivals: Activism in Context, 24.
31Johannes Morsink, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Origins, Drafting, and Intent, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), x.
32Mariagiulia Grassilli, “Human Rights Film Festivals: Global/Local Networks for Advocacy,” in Film Festival Yearbook 4: Film Festivals and Activism, ed Dina Iordanova et al. (St Andrews: University of St Andrews Film Studies Department, 2012), 34.
33Ibid. 9 rights as heavily weighted in Western ideals that evolve around “a social context based on capital” and which “disregards culturally specific beliefs.”34
Such interpretations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights exemplify how the very notion of human rights is subjective. As Tascon observes the concept is “no more than a moral vision that emerged from events of particular times and places.”35 Therefore, whilst the concept provides a space for thinking about and debating social injustices, human suffering and what it means to be “human”, the term itself should be understood as a malleable concept.36 The human rights film festival opens up a space where discourse surrounding the very notion of human rights can take place and in turn becomes an important cog in the development, definition and clarification of the term.37
1.5.3 Film Festivals
The earliest film festivals appeared in the years preceding World War II. The first, the Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia (The Venice International Film Festival) was established in 1932 under Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime in order to “glorify the nation-state” and compete with Hollywood dominance.38 This festival was unpopular in Britain, America and France due to its blatant fascist agenda. It is therefore no surprise that shortly after it began, Cannes was established in France, with US and British support, as an anti-fascist alternative.39
Following World War II an increasing number of film festivals emerged in Europe, yet the growing tensions of the Cold War influenced the socio-political motives behind their existence. In 1948, the first edition of the Karlovy Vary festival took place, in what was then Czechoslovakia, as a reaction to the Western centricity of Cannes. The festival believed in film as a tool for propaganda in the
34Ibid.
35Tascon, Human Rights Film Festivals: Activism in Context, 25.
36Michael Freeman, Human Rights: An Interdisciplinary Approach, (Cambridge: Polity Press 2011), 3.
37Grassilli, “Human Rights Film Festivals: Global/Local Networks for Advocacy,” 34.
38Hing - Yuk Wong, Film Festivals, 37.
39Ibid. 39. 10 “ideological struggle against the west.”40 Meanwhile, in 1951, the Berlinale opened in order to demonstrate to the communist East the successes of the capitalist West.41 These examples show how, during this period, film festivals contributed to the European “cultural battlefield” of the cold war.42
De Valck identifies three main phases of the film festival phenomenon since the 1930s: the above period, characterised by socio-political upheavals which lasted until 1968, the second phase whereby independent festivals emerged with a focus on cinema as art and the festival’s role in the film industry, and the third phase beginning in the 1980s, whereby film festivals became both “professionalised and institutionalised” on a global scale.43 De Valck also states how the recent surge of film festivals, which centres around “cinephilia”, has lead to the rise in the “thematic festival”.44 The human rights film festival is in this category.
The first film festival devoted solely to human rights took place in Helsinki in 1988 and was born out of the organisation Helsinki Watch which later became Human Rights Watch. Human Rights film festivals are commonly affiliated with existing organisations such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or registered charities. As well as offering financial support and bringing enhanced media attention, an association with a well-respected and long-established parent organisation legitimises the festival’s authenticity.45
In recent decades, following the inauguration of the Human Rights Watch festival, numerous human rights film festivals have emerged. In 2003 the Human Rights Film Network was formed. It was founded as a result of a collaboration between four human rights film festivals: Movies that Matter, Human Rights Nights, Festival du Film and Forum International sur les Droits Humains (FIFDH).
40Festival Karlovy Vary, “A Brief Festival History.” http://www.kviff.com/en/about-festival/festivalhistory quoted in Hing - Yuk Wong, Film Festivals, 41.
41Hing - Yuk Wong, Film Festivals, 41.
42Ibid.
43Marijke de Valck, Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia, (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2007) 19.
44Ibid. 166.
45Iordanova, “Film Festivals and Dissent,” 14. 11 The network now has 38 contributing organisations, a figure which is increasing each year as more and more festivals dedicated to human rights advocacy emerge.46
The human rights film festival, as a “thematic” sub-division of the film festival network, adheres to many of the same modes of practice as other festivals.47 Thomas Elsaesser remarks that all film festivals are time and location based and reliant on the turn-out of a large audience.48 It is also apparent that the primary goal of all film festivals is to promote cinema. All these factors apply to the human rights film festival. However, unlike mainstream film festivals, the human rights film festival does not focus primarily on cinema as an art form, but rather on cinema as a tool, which negotiates “specific social and political articulations.”49 Iordanova argues that the central objectives of human rights film festivals - to expose human rights violations, disseminate knowledge and foster an environment conducive to change - also separates them from other festivals.50 These goals provide the foundations of the overall mission of the human rights festival: to promote justice on a global scale. In turn, this mission shapes the selection criteria of the films that are screened.51
Despite the dominance of film festivals in the cultural landscape since World War II, film festival studies has only recently been regarded as a legitimate field of academia. De Valck states that this is largely to do with the “classical preoccupation of film historians with filmic texts.”52 The emergence of a New Film History in the 1980s arguably marked the beginning of film festival studies.53 Scholars started to focus attention away from the isolated filmic object, choosing instead to shine a light on the specific socio-political and cultural contexts of exhibiting film, as well as the practices of film production and distribution.54 This move away from the isolated filmic text opened up new perspectives, paving the way for the emergence of film festival studies as an academic field
46Human Rights Film Network, “About” accessed 3rd January 2015, http://www.humanrightsfilmnetwork.org/about
47Hing - Yuk Wong, Film Festivals, 173.
48Thomas Elsaesser, ‘Film Festival Networks: The New Topographies of Cinema in Europe’ in Dina Iordanova, ed., The Film Festival Reader, (St Andrews: St Andrews University Film Studies Department, 2013), 82.
49Hing - Yuk Wong, Film Festivals, 160.
50Iordanova, “Film Festivals and Dissent: Can Film Change the World?” 16.
51Grassilli, “Human Rights Film Festivals: Global/Local Networks for Advocacy,” 37.
52de Valck, Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia, 21.
53Ibid.
54Ibid. 12 in the late 1990s.55 Dina Iordanova, Leshu Torchin, Marijke de Valck, Sonia Tascon and Cindy Hing-Yuk Wong are among several academics working in this domain.
2. AN ANALYSIS OF HUMAN RIGHTS FILM ——————————————————————————————————
2.1 Origins of The Human Rights Film
Tascon suggests that the use of film for “illustration, presentation, and promotion of human rights” has been in place since the first Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in 1988.56 However, as Daan Bronkhorst of Amnesty International states, if we consider the entire history of the moving image, films depicting human rights issues were made long before the first human rights festival, and in fact, long before the establishment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the concept of human rights emerged.57 Geoffrey Malins and J.B. McDowell’s 1916 documentary The Battle of the Somme and Abel Gance’s 1918 fiction film J’accuse are amongst the earliest films depicting the atrocities of war and conflict which could be read in the context of human rights today.58 Since then countless filmmakers have chosen to use the medium of film and video to depict human rights issues and provide a voice for victims of human rights violations throughout the world. Others consciously used film as a medium to draw attention to social and political injustice, notably Charlie Chaplin, throughout his career as a director, actor, and writer.
Perhaps what Tascon is referring to regarding the Human Rights Watch Film Festival is rather the first time human rights films were recognised as a distinct genre and legitimised as such by being presented in the context of the film festival; by then, a long established cultural phenomenon. The human rights film festival is also a node in the “institutionalisation” of the human rights film.59 However, such “institutionalisation” of the human rights film can be traced back to the first time
55Ibid.
56Sonia Tascon, “Considering Human Rights Films, Representation, and Ethics: Whose Face?” in Human Rights Quarterly, 2012, Vol.34(3), 864.
57Daan Bronkhorst, “Human Rights Film”, accessed 21/05/2015, http://jedensvet.cz/archive/www.jedensvet.cz/ow/2004/en/ workshops/index2.php.htm
58Ibid.
59Sandra Ristovska, “Institutional Video Advocacy: Tackling the Role of Human Rights Videos,” talk delivered at the University of Amsterdam Media Studies Department, 21/04/2015, Abstract: https://www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/news/ristovska-deliver-talk- university-amsterdam-media-studies-department 13 film was used in a legal context.60 The use of film as witness material in the Nuremberg trials marked a pivotal moment in the history of the moving image. For the first time, film was used as evidence in a court of law. Two films, The Nazi Plan and Nazi Concentration Camps were presented by the American prosecution who claimed they “needed to use film in order to establish proof of the nature of the crimes under investigation.”61 The use of film evidence against Nazi perpetrators exemplified how the “visceral power” of the medium could be used to hold human rights abusers accountable for their actions.62 Nazi Concentration Camps was used in the Eichmann trials in Jerusalem and since then film has continuously been deployed as a valid tool to complement legal proceedings throughout the world.63
In the contemporary media landscape where more and more ordinary citizens worldwide have access to filming materials it is increasingly possible to record and broadcast human rights struggles.64 Due to the accessibility of the medium, individuals are able to use film to expose injustices, but also to challenge the boundaries of what is meant by human rights, reshaping and reconsidering the very notion. Widespread belief that film can transform the world provides the backbone for human rights film as a genre, and in turn, human rights film festivals.
Grassilli points out how the definition of a human rights film may be “as broad and potentially malleable” as the notion of human rights.65 Film practitioners, festival programmers, film historians and film festival theorists have all outlined different defining characteristics of the human rights film. For Mona Rai, programmer coordinator for Document Film Festival, Glasgow, it is a narrative film which “forces the viewer to look, think, engage and perhaps act long after the film is over.”66 For Maurizio del Bufalo, founder of Cinema e Diritti, Napoli, it is a deeply impacting story that invites reflection, and for Igor Blazevc founder of One World, Prague, it is a film which “motivates
60Ristovska, “Institutional Video Advocacy: Tackling the Role of Human Rights Videos,” talk delivered at the University of Amsterdam Media Studies Department, 21/04/2015
61Lawrence Douglas in Kristi M. Wilson et al. ed. Film and Genocide, (Wisconsin: Wisconsin University Press, 2012), 7.
62Jeremy, Lehrer, ’Bringing Abuses to Light: The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival Focuses the Public Eye on Human Rights Abuses’ in Human Rights Vol 24, No 3, 1997, 14.
63Lawrence Douglas in Kristi M. Wilson et al. ed. Film and Genocide 7.
64Sam Gregory, “Cameras Everywhere: Ubiquitous Video Documentation of Human Rights, New Forms of Video Advocacy, and Considerations of Safety, Security, Dignity and Consent,” Journal of Human Rights Practice, 2010, Vol. 2 (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 191.
65Grassilli, “Human Rights Film Festivals: Global/Local Networks for Advocacy,” 36.
66Mona Rai in Grassilli, “Human Rights Film Festivals: Global/Local Networks for Advocacy,” 37. 14 people to take action.”67 Sonia Tascon argues, that there is “no such thing as a human rights film,” only human rights film festivals.68 She suggests that when the film enters the discursive context of the human rights film festival it becomes entwined in a set of political and ethical requirements specific to human rights.69
The Human Rights Film Network lays out criteria for film selection as follows:
Human rights films, in our view, are films that reflect, inform on and provide understanding of the actual state of past and present human rights violations, or the visions and aspirations concerning ways to redress those violations.
Human rights films can be documentary, fiction, experimental or animation. They can be short, medium or feature length; have a 35mm, 16mm, video or other format; can be experimental through the use of 'new media' or any other artistic and technological visual means.
Human rights films may be harshly realistic, or highly utopian. They may offer gruesome pictures, or show the bliss of peaceful life. They may report, denounce or convey an emotional message. They may forcefully present the views of one group or individual only, or try to convey the opinions of as many of those involved as possible. They may be a highly accurate report of facts, or offer surreal provocation…The Network promotes films that allow silenced and marginalised voices to be heard, as a contribution to their empowerment.70
Due to the sensitive nature of many films exploring human rights issues, morality and ethics both play a significant role in the selection of such films for film festival screenings. The charter states that human rights films should:
Inform the viewers on human rights issues and aspirations, and should not intentionally misrepresent the facts or the views or words of those portrayed. They should not be so biased as to invoke hatred and discrimination against groups and individuals, or serve political or commercial interests only. They should be explorative of the issue rather than propagandistic, and not reproduce stereotypes.71
I would argue that the human rights film can be any genre of film that explores human rights issues in an ethical manner, encouraging reflection and debate, and interrogating and expanding the boundaries of the human rights discourse. The human rights film festival is a space that enhances the medium’s potential to fulfil these goals by providing a forum for discussion and outlining the
67Maurizio del Bufalo and Igor Blazevc in Grassilli, “Human Rights Film Festivals: Global/Local Networks for Advocacy,” 37.
68Tascon, Human Rights Film Festivals: Activism in Context, 203.
69Ibid, 9.
70Human Rights Film Network, “Charter: Statement of Principles and Practices”, accessed 20/05/2015, http:// www.humanrightsfilmnetwork.org/content/charter
71Ibid. 15 importance of film as a vital tool in the global quest for social justice and human rights advocacy. In relation to the Human Rights Film Network selection criteria I will examine the ethical and political dilemmas that human rights films present to the spectator by negotiating issues of representability, visualising another’s suffering, and the fraught power relations intrinsic to the act of watching.
2.2. Ethics of Spectatorship
No other spectacle can raise the ethical question of what to do so compellingly as suffering. Lilie Chouliaraki72
A large number of films concerned with human rights issues contain depictions of people suffering or experiencing pain, either physical or emotional. This visualisation of suffering, and, in turn, the subject of witnessing another’s distress, has been a philosophical preoccupation for centuries.73 At the end of the 18th-century Immanuel Kant explored the role of compassion and the moral duty implicit on the viewer when he or she is confronted with another individual’s pain.74 Since then, philosophers, cultural theorists and visual arts commentators have revisited and reworked Kant’s theories. Susan Sontag, Lilie Chouliaraki and Luc Boltanski are amongst the most notable scholars in recent years who have interrogated the way “modern technologies of visual representation expose us to others’ pain from a spatial and temporal distance.”75 An analysis of such representation demonstrates how film, whilst an excellent tool for promoting human rights advocacy in many circumstances, is also subject to a number of political and ethical demands.76
In the aforementioned Human Rights Film Network charter, the criteria for film selection states that films should not “intentionally misrepresent the facts or the views or words of those portrayed… they should be explorative of the issue rather than propagandistic, and not reproduce stereotypes.”77 These guidelines highlight the potential for such films to be problematic and the need for festival programmers to be selective. Safia Swimelar outlines the risk of subject manipulation in films exploring human rights issues. In some circumstances, for instance, unethical visual representation,
72Lilie Chouliaraki, The Spectatorship of Suffering, (New York: SAGE Publications, 2006), 2.
73Downing and Saxton, Film and Ethics, 65.
74Kant referenced in Downing and Saxton, Film and Ethics, 65.
75Downing and Saxton, Film and Ethics, 65.
76Tascon, Human Rights Film Festivals, 9.
77Human Rights Film Network, “Charter: Statement of Principles and Practices”, accessed 20/05/2015, http:// www.humanrightsfilmnetwork.org/content/charter 16 according to Swimelar, can “reinforce sociopolitical hierarchies, shape foreign policies and humanitarian aid and justify armed intervention.”78 The feature length film The Kite Runner, based on the novel by Khaled Hosseini, for example, seeks to promote the growing access to eduction and improved opportunities for women in Afghanistan, but in doing so actually paints a negative picture of the country, thus propping up “orientalising biases”.79 Elizabeth S. Anker criticises Hosseini’s novel for presenting an under-developed and “in general barbaric” country that “inadvertently endorses some of the most insidious and injurious misconceptions about non-western lives.”80 These criticisms can also be applied to Marc Forster’s film adaptation, which despite such condemnation, was a box office success. Such reinforcement of stereotyping in literature and film, rather than raising awareness of human rights issues, contributes to the feeling of “otherness” that Edward Said first discussed in his seminal publication Orientalism, 1978.81 Swimelar argues that rather than “creating a sense of common humanity” and using the medium to encourage action off- screen, such films widen the pre-existing gulf between the watcher and the watched by strengthening the opposing dualities of “us and them, East and West, rich and poor etc.”82
Manipulation of the viewer, as well as manipulation of the subject is also present in problematic films depicting human rights issues.83 The use of particular camera angles, strategic editing and emotive sound tracks are often deployed in order to produce specific emotions in the viewer which can produce negative results. One such reading of unethical visual representation is the notion of “poverty porn” whereby viewers are encouraged to indulge in the supposed aesthetic beauty of the subject’s suffering thus regarding it to be nothing more than entertainment and spectacle.84 Encouraging such a voyeuristic reception of the subjects depicted reinforces “otherness,” which, as I previously mentioned, is counterproductive rather than progressive.85 Moreover, by transforming issues depicting serious human rights violations into heart-rending spectacles they become
78 Safia Swimelar, “Making Human Rights Visible Through Photography and Film’” in Anja Mihr et al, eds. The SAGE Handbook of Human Rights, 421.
79Elizabeth S Anker, “Human Rights in Literature,” in Anja Mihr & Mark Gibney, eds. The SAGE Handbook of Human Rights, 474.
80Ibid.
81Edward W. Said, Orientalism (1978), (London: Vintage Book, 1st Edition, 1988), 21.
82Safia Swimelar, “Making Human Rights Visible Through Photography and Film” 423.
83Ibid.
84Barbara Korte & Frédéric Regard, eds, Narrating Poverty and Precocity in Britain,(Berlin; Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmBH, 2014) 208.
85Lilie Chouliaraki, The Spectatorship of Suffering, 2. 17 separated from reality. Spectators are then unable to relate what they see on-screen to their own lives. For example Spielberg’s Schindler’s List (fig.2) has been criticised for “turning the holocaust into a theme park” and consequently the result is a film which is trivial, sensational, and detached from the real world.86
Fig.2, Schindler’s List 1993 US Distribution Poster, Source: IMDB
Specific editing techniques can also be deployed in order to encourage the viewer to feel pity for the subject, which can be equally detrimental. Downing and Saxon argue, echoing Boltanski and Chouliaraki, that the pity a viewer feels for the subjects on-screen is a narcissistic emotion “masquerading as altruism.”87 On a self-indulgent level spectators feel reassured that they have been moved by another’s suffering. Such pity can turn into feelings of sympathy for the subjects. However, such emotions, as Swimelar points out, do not equate to empathy or indeed, action off- screen.88 Susan Sontag argues that despite feelings of pity or sympathy we do not feel any closer to the individuals represented, and “our sympathy proclaims our innocence as well as our impotence.”89 It is these negative effects of the medium that human rights film makers have to
86Barbie Zelizer, Visual Culture and the Holocaust, (London: The Athlone Press, 2001), 130.
87Downing and Saxton, Film and Ethics, 65. See also Lilie Chouliaraki, The Ironic Spectator, (Cambridge: Polity Press 2013) and Luc Boltanski, Distant Suffering: Morality, Media and Politics, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
88Swimelar, “Making Human Rights Visible Through Photography and Film” 423.
89Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others, (London: Penguin Books, 2003), 91. 18 overcome, and human rights film festival programmers have to consider when selecting films to screen at festivals.
Such films also have to negotiate the concern that visual representation of human rights injustices can repel rather than attract attention.90 Both Susan Sontag and Susan Moeller have written extensively on how the mass media often depicts victims of suffering and human rights violations. The repetitive bombardment of distressing images thrown at us by the media plagues us with what Moeller describes as “compassion fatigue.”91 According to Sontag, the acceptable level of violence in everyday media is increasing.92 This proliferation of violent or depressing images results in a culture whereby people are either numbed, repelled or exhausted by what they see, rather than shocked or moved into action.93 Sontag refers largely to photography, and Moeller to the visual depictions of human suffering presented by the media. Arguably, feature length fiction films and non-fiction documentary films ought to be considered in a different light. Unlike the mass media, due to their different viewing circumstances, they can be tools which combat the problem of “compassion fatigue,” rather than contribute to it. If done well film can harness audience attention with compelling story telling, contextualisation and carefully constructed framing devices.94According to Downing and Saxon, who analyse ethics in cinema, rather than photography or the media, film has the power to mediate the uneven power relations between the spectator and the subjects on screen, as well as the hierarchical political system continually reinforced by the dominant discourse of Western mass-media.95
Swimelar highlights another potential ethical challenge human rights film makers and film festival programmers must consider: “the post-modern critique and the myth of the image.”96 The notion that visual documentation, such as photography or film, presents events in their actuality is of course the “myth” Swimelar is referring to here. I will discuss this in more detail in the following section relating to the prominence of documentary film at the human rights film festival.
90Swimelar, “Making Human Rights Visible Through Photography and Film” 423.
91Susan Moeller, Compassion fatigue: How the Media Sell Disease, Famine, War and Death, (New York: Routledge, 1999)
92Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others, (London: Penguin Books, 2003), 90.
93Ibid.
94Swimelar, “Making Human Rights Visible Through Photography and Film” 423.
95Downing and Saxton, Film and Ethics, 64.
96Safia Swimelar, “Visual Culture and Pedagogy: Teaching Human Rights with Film and Images,” Global-e: A Global Studies Journal, online source accessed 15th June 2015 http://global-ejournal.org/category/volume-3/ 19 Visual representation is fundamentally political because, Swimelar argues, it makes claims about “what is important to be seen,” thus buying into a hierarchy of representation.97 The process of selecting, editing, and omitting specific information to include in a film, whether non-fiction documentary or narrative fiction film, has ethical underpinnings; particularly when those films are making claims about human rights. This is also applicable to the human rights film festival, which cannot exist in a space of neutrality. As Tascon asserts: film festival “programming is a form of discursive gatekeeping.”98 Like the archival institution Jacques Derrida describes in Archive Fever, the film festival should be regarded as a public forum that continuously negotiates power relations, neutrality and memory.99 Derrida elaborates on the notion of a “collective memory” as a social construct with his exploration of the establishment of ‘truth’.100 As the human rights film festival is a public cultural forum, it could be argued that it also forms part of the larger network of public institutions that contribute to the formation of collective memory that Derrida refers to. Like the archive which collects documents for the sake of preservation, the film festival selects films legitimising and justifying their existence in, and relevance to, the real world. This selection process is political because, whilst selecting specific films “produces memory,” it simultaneously “produces forgetting.” For Derrida, this dilemma highlights the limitations of the archive - limitations that are also applicable to the human rights film festival, and indeed, the act of filmmaking. They demonstrate how, in the words of novelist Milan Kundera, “the struggle against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.”101
The ethical and political demands discussed in this chapter must be constantly negotiated and revisited by filmmakers, festival organisers and film festival attendees. Human rights filmmakers must consider the most appropriate way to visualise human rights abuses in a way that effectively avoids taking advantage of another’s pain, or reinforcing dominant power relations propelled by the Western media discourse. As Swimelar states “visualisation of human rights is a paradox: a double
97Swimelar, “Making Human Rights Visible Through Photography and Film,” 413.
98 Tascon, Human Rights Film Festivals, 11.
99Jacques Derrida, ‘Archive Fever’ (transcribed Seminar) in C. Hamilton et al, eds. Refiguring the Archive, (Kluwer Academic Publishers), 2002, p38-p78
100Ibid.
101Milan Kundera quoted in Terry Cook,‘‘What is Past is Prologue: A History of Archival Ideas Since 1898, and the Future Paradigm Shift” in Archivaria: The Journal of the Association of Canadian Archivists, Issue 43, Spring 1997 (ACA),48. 20 edged sword” that can indeed be captivating, but also repulsive and divisive.102 Visual representation of human suffering should “prompt ethical self-scrutiny,” emphasising the viewers’ implications and responsibility in what they see on-screen, rather than reinforce dominant power relations via exploitative, manipulative and sensationalist techniques.103 Human rights film festivals must combine screenings with effective presentation strategies that enhance self-reflection and harness an effective network for action, combating stereotypes and feelings of otherness. Film festival attendees should interrogate what it means to be a spectator and consumer of films exploring human rights issues, exercising an awareness of the political and ethical demands implicit in such visual representation.
2.3 The Predominance of Non-Fiction Documentary Film
Clearly there is no correlation between the specifications of human rights film in the Human Rights Film Network charter (see page 16) and the prominence of non-fiction documentary film at the human rights film festival. According to Heather Harding of Human Rights Watch International Film Festival one of the main goals in film selection is not merely dependent on the film’s specific subject content or specific film genre, but rather finding films that challenge the collective understanding of human rights.104 Prioritising this element of the human rights film not only exposes the malleability of the notion, but also makes “changes to the (human rights) discourse by extending its frame.”105 With this goal in mind, along with the selection criteria laid out by the human rights film network, I will interrogate the predominance of non-fiction documentary film at the human rights film festival.
Documentary filmmaker and cultural anthropologist, Meg McLagan argues that “human rights activism has always exhibited a strong documentary impulse.”106 This could largely be to do with the genre’s inherent engagement with society and politics — a characteristic of the medium that can be found in the work of Joris Ivens, Luis Bu uel and John Grierson, or indeed the aforementioned
102Swimelar, “Making Human Rights Visible Through Photography and Film” 423.
103Downing and Saxton, Film and Ethics, 67.
104 Heather Harding in Jeremy, Lehrer, ’Bringing Abuses to Light: The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival Focuses the Public Eye on Human Rights Abuses’ in Human Rights Vol 24, No 3, 1997,14.
105Tascon, Human Rights Film Festivals, 9.
106 Meg McLagan, “Principles, Publicity, and Politics: Notes on Human Rights Media,” in American Anthropologist, Vol.105(3), (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2003), 607. 21 World War I cinematographers, Malins and McDowell.107 Arguably, documentary films are an effective tool for disseminating knowledge about society because they are understood as having close ties to the reality of the “protagonist of life.”108 In other words they present circumstances that the viewer can relate to and recognise as existing in the real world. Film theorist Bill Nichols describes documentaries as presenting “views of the world…social issues and cultural values, current problems and possible solutions, actual situations and specific ways of representing them.”109He argues, therefore, that the spectator’s experience of documentary films transcends the boundaries of the film-viewing encounter, and the viewing experience is transported into the realm of society itself.110
Vivien Sobchack, who suggests that our engagement with documentary film is intrinsically different to our engagement with fiction film, echoes Nichols’ argument.111 She claims that with fiction film the “viewer’s attention is focused on — rather than through — the screen object,” and with non- fiction documentary the viewer sees “beyond the screen’s boundaries and back into our own life world.”112 Both Sobchack and Nichols propose that the way in which the viewer identifies with the documentary image bridges the gap between the spectator and the on-screen subject.113According to them, the consequence of this viewing experience is that the viewer is forced to consider the conditions of the real world, rather than anything distant, abstract or even fantastical. The conclusion therefore is that the medium of documentary is an excellent tool that can enlighten spectators, mould consciousness, and in turn, contribute to social or political change. This view is clearly shared by human rights film festivals and their organisers. In relation to Sobchack’s interpretation of how documentaries hurl the viewer “right back into the world we inhabit," Tascon argues that the viewing circumstances and the contextualisation of film screenings within the human rights film festival affects how a spectator engages with what they see on-screen.114
107 Igor Blazevic, “Film Festivals as a Human Rights Awareness Building Tool: Experiences of the Prague One World Festival” in Film Festival Yearbook 4: Film Festivals and Activism, ed Dina Iordanova et al. (St Andrews: University of St Andrews Film Studies Department, 2012), 111.
108 O. Getino and F. Solanas quoted in Tascon, Human Rights Film Festivals, 7.
109 Bill Nichols, Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary, (John Wiley & Sons, 1992), ix.
110 Ibid
111 Vivien Sobchack quoted in Tascon, Human Rights Film Festivals, 43.
112 Ibid.
113 Tascon, Human Rights Film Festivals, 43.
114 Ibid. 22 However, she only lightly touches on how this can also produce similar effects on the spectator in the case of fictional films. I will explore this question more thoroughly in chapter 3.
Along with the documentary’s inherent engagement with society and politics, and the medium’s ability to confront us with the reality of the world we inhabit, the theory of documentary as testimony and audience as witness has been proposed by a number of scholars regarding the potential of non-fiction film to expose human rights violations, disseminate knowledge and encourage audiences to take action in the context of the human rights film festival. McLagan points out that visual representations of suffering, more often than not presented as testimony, dominate the genre of human rights media.115 The term “testimony” is a historically loaded term long associated with juridical and religious realms.116 In the legal sense, testimony refers to evidence provided by a witness in a court of law under an oath of truthfulness. In religious arenas believers will often testify as a declaration of their faith. Testimony in these circumstances epitomises truthfulness. Torchin, expanding upon McLagan’s viewpoint, suggests therefore that it is documentary’s close proximity to truth that likens it to the testimonial encounter.117 McLagan provides a particularly concise description of the testimonial encounter in the human rights documentary, highlighting how such testimony can create an audience of witnesses:
Though we are rarely witnesses to atrocity, we are witnesses to stories of atrocities by their survivors. These stories take the form of testimony and we often regard them as evidence of “what really happened”… Circulation of human rights testimonials create what I call “witnessing publics.” As narratives and images of suffering travel, they have the potential to construct audiences as virtual witnesses, a subject position that implies responsibility for the suffering of others.118
The assumption here is that in the context of the human rights film festival, audiences are more likely to take responsibility and act on what they “witness” on-screen when they are confronted with films that provide testimony. This is because such ‘evidence’ embodies the essence of reality and truthfulness. Suggesting that the non-fiction documentary film is closely linked to testimony, like the deliverance of testimony in a legal context, assumes that what is presented to the audience on-screen is indeed “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” I would argue therefore, that McLagan’s and Torchin’s analysis does not bring to bear the question that has concerned
115Meg McLagan, “Principles, Publicity, and Politics: Notes on Human Rights Media,” 609.
116Torchin, “Networked for Advocacy: Film Festivals and Activism,” 3.
117 Ibid.
118Meg McLagan, “Principles, Publicity, and Politics: Notes on Human Rights Media,” 609. 23 philosophers and art historians since the invention of photography and film: the value and trustworthiness of the medium as “truthful documentation of reality.”119 This relates to the “myth of the image” I referred to previously. In order to look beyond the preoccupation with truth and reality with regard to film encouraging the spectator to act, I will interrogate the notion of truthfulness and the depiction of such in the non-fiction documentary film. This is a worthwhile endeavour if only because of the counter-intuitive proposition that fiction may represent truth, and its potential contribution to the quest for societal improvement, notably the need to address injustice.
2.4 Interrogating “Truthfulness”
Photography is truth. And Cinema is truth twenty-four times a second. Jean-Luc Godard120
Of course the notion of “truth” has troubled philosophers for hundreds of years, long before the invention of film. Discussion of the origins of thought and the relativity and subjectivity of truthfulness appear in the writings of the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Protagoras (490 - 420BC) who famously asserted “man is the measure of all things.”121 He determined that cultural and historical contexts affect an individual’s judgement of truth and reality, and that different people or societies can have different understandings of the notion.122 Since then philosophers have revisited and reworked theories of radical relativism that Protagoras introduced. Over two millennia later Michael Foucault made these assertions that mirror Protagoras’ conception of truth:
Truth is of this world; it is produced in it thanks to manifold constraints. And it induces in it regulated effects of power. Each society has its regime of truth, its ‘general politics’ of truth: that is, the type of discourse which it accepts and makes function as true or false, the way each of these is sanctioned; the mechanisms and procedures that are valorised for the obtaining of truth; the status of those who are charged with saying what counts as true.123
119 Marcel Feil, “Image-Based Activism Today,” in Foam : The Messenger Issue 41 Spring 2015, (Amsterdam: Foam Magazine), 6.
120 Jean-Luc Godard quoted in Daniel Varndell, Hollywood Remakes, Deleuze and the Grandfather Paradox, (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), 197.
121 Protagoras quoted in Benjamin Frankel, ed, Roots of Realism, (London: Routledge 2013 edition, First published 1996 by Frank Cass Publishers), 205.
122 Ibid.
123 Michel Foucault in Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977, Colin Gordon, ed and Colin Gordon et al., transl. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1980), 131. 24 An analogy between ancient philosophical theories about “truthfulness” and the medium of cinema may be best explained by referring to Plato’s allegory of the people in the cave.124 The implication of Plato’s Cave is that all images are mediated depictions of reality, or subjective interpretations, yet in certain situations they have the potential to seem real. In contemporary society the cave in Plato’s analogy can be replaced with the black box cinema. Although in the context of cinema we know that what we see on-screen is an edited and manipulated version of originally captured footage, and the notion that documentary should be “true” has long been questioned, the essential claim that documentary film is “unmediated truth” still persists.125 The assertion that documentary film is testimony, particularly when presented in the context of the human rights film festival, reinforces this claim.
I would indeed support assertions that unstaged and unedited film footage can access a certain kind of “testimonial truth.” However, once such footage is embedded in a carefully edited documentary and then exhibited in the context of cinema, such “truthfulness” is replaced with subjectivity and the neutrality of the image is lost, thus presenting a mediated reality. As Tascon points out such films, “as creative, constructed texts cannot avoid positionality, and are in that sense interpretive and persuasive.”126 In the contemporary media landscape, due to increasing digital technologies, the “countless, often untraceable steps” between the original film footage and the final film product mean that a “verifiable relationship” between visual representation and reality is becoming increasingly complex.127
I agree with the claim that documentary films have a different effect on the viewer because they depict real people in the real world, and they provide a voice for victims of injustices. For this reason they should of course remain essential components of the human rights film festival programme. However, I would argue that if the notion of presenting “truthfulness” were not given such precedence but remained open to re-evaluation, then a case could be put forward for the justification of including more narrative fiction film in the human rights film festival programme. I propose that screening a majority of documentary films at such festivals, and furthermore
124 Martin Heidegger, The Essence of Truth: On Plato’s Cave Allegory and Theaetetus, (London: Bloomsbury, 2013 Edition, First published as Vom Wesen der Wahrheit, Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klosterman GmBH, 1988), 12.
125Ann-louise Shapiro, “How Real Is the Reality in Documentary Film?” in History and Theory, Vol.36(4), (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1997), 80.
126Tascon, Human Rights Film Festivals, 141.
127Marcel Feil, “Image-Based Activism Today,” 6. 25 presenting such films as testimony, negates pivotal questions concerning the relationship between visual representation and reality. It is important therefore, to include a balance of fiction and non- fiction films as they both teach different things about the world we inhabit, particularly when combined with the discursive context of the human rights film festival. Screening fiction and non- fiction films side-by-side also encourages us to continually interrogate the very medium of film: a medium which plays an increasing role in human rights advocacy.
3.THE POWER OF THE IMAGINARY: A CASE FOR NARRATIVE FICTION FILM AT THE HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL ——————————————————————————————————
3.1 The Advantages of Narrative Fiction Film in the Human Rights Context
In this section I will outline the qualities of narrative fiction film in order to justify the inclusion of such films in the human rights film festival programme. First and foremost I oppose Sobchak’s view that audiences viewing fiction film focus solely on the screen, rather than through it into “our own life-world”.128 I argue that films do not necessarily have to depict real people in order for the viewer to relate what they see on-screen to the real-world, particularly when films are presented in the discursive context of the human rights film festival. Rather, it could be argued that narrative fiction films, like all forms of creative production, reflect, and in fact, form the “reality” of the world as we know it.129 Of course it is indisputable that capturing real individuals in their real world environment on camera, rather than scripted characters in constructed environments, presents a different kind of reality to that of fiction film and literature. However, this does not mean that audiences watching a narrative fiction film cannot transpose what they see on-screen into situations that occur in the real-world. As Swimelar points out, our awareness and understanding of political or social events, historical and current, often derives from “the images and stories that our memory recalls from art - films, books, and paintings.”130 This opinion highlights the influence that such art forms can have on public understanding. Anker echoes Swimelar’s reasoning but refers specifically
128Vivien Sobchack quoted in Tascon, Human Rights Film Festivals, 43.
129 Safia Swimelar, “Visualising International Relations: Assessing Student Learning Through Film” in International Studies Perspectives, 2013, Vol.14(1), (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2013), 14.
130Ibid. 26 to society’s understanding of human rights.131 She claims that it is almost impossible to envisage a “culture of human rights” that is not rooted in artistic expression, whether through fiction film and literature, poetry, theatre, or the visual arts.132According to Anker, it is entirely due to the imaginative potential of such art forms that they are able to play a significant role in advancing the “agenda of human rights advocacy.”133 In other words, unlike non-fiction documentary film, which is moulded by the desire to remain as close to the truth as possible, fiction film and literature prompts us to remember our ideals and expectations via imagination and fantasy. A film such as Peter Weir’s The Truman Show, 1998 (fig.3), for example, is a completely fictionalised story that explores basic human rights issues surrounding freedom, surveillance and privacy.
Fig.3, The Truman Show 1988 US Distribution poster, Source: IMDB
The compelling and emotive narrative Weir presents engages the viewer with such issues and forces them to question their own life and values in the context of the real-world in which they inhabit. In relation to writers of fiction, Sontag claims that they therefore fulfil the role of “moral agents” who, in the stories they tell, consider moral dilemmas and in turn interrogate the reader’s, or in the case
131 Elizabeth S Anker, “Human Rights in Literature,” in Anja Mihr & Mark Gibney, eds. The SAGE Handbook of Human Rights, 460.
132 Ibid.
133 Ibid. 27 of film, the viewer’s, moral judgement.134 She argues that such writers “evoke our common humanity in narratives with which we can identify” and lead us to question the “standards of justice and truthfulness” present in reality.135 Namely, the presence of fantasy and imagination in both fictional literature and fiction film maps out expectations and ideals which, in turn, help to form and expand upon the ever-malleable conception of human rights. Such art forms, therefore, by existing as reminders of such ideals, play an important role in the active struggle against social injustice.
The inherent ability of narrative fiction film to dramatise complex human rights issues also warrants “special attention” in terms of the way in which the medium can attract attention and garner public interest.136 These issues immediately become more accessible and comprehensible when they are brought to life in a compelling and stimulating mode of narrative story-telling. For example, Tim Robbins’ 1995 oscar-winning film, Dead Man Walking, (fig.4) about an inmate on death row perhaps garnered more public attention than Werner Herzog’s 2011 non-fiction documentary Into the Abyss, (fig.5) on the same topic.
Fig.4, Dead Man Walking 1995 US Fig.5, Into the Abyss 2011 UK distribution poster, Source: IMDB. distribution Poster, Source: IMDB
134 Susan Sontag, “Essay: The Truth of Fiction Evokes our Common Humanity” in LA Times, 12/29/04. Accessed 7th June 2015 http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-122804sontag_archives-story.html#page=1
135 Ibid.
136Swimelar, “Visualising International Relations: Assessing Student Learning Through Film,” 14. 28 In relation to using film for pedagogical purposes, Swimelar states that, in contrast to most documentary film, the “dramatic nature of (fiction) film can increase students’ interest and commitment to the subject.”137 In this way narrative fiction film can act as an introductory tool for encouraging individuals to engage with pressing human rights concerns. However, as I mentioned in chapter two, whilst the dramatisation of such issues can have positive effects, visual representation of topics surrounding human rights is also subject to a number of ethical and political demands. Filmmakers must be extremely careful not to “sensationalise, simplify and depoliticise” important events.138 A number of fiction films do claim to be based on true events and in this circumstance film makers and film festival programmers must be careful not to select films which misrepresent or distort individuals’ lives or events. It is crucial for human rights film festivals to highlight these ethical demands when presenting fiction films in the context of the human rights film festival, in order to encourage critical debates about issues of truthfulness and representation, but also “history writing in general.”139 However, fiction films, when presented in the context of human rights discourse, precisely because they are not tied down by truthfulness constraints, draw the viewer’s attention to the medium of the camera, provoking questions about different modes of visual representation, story-telling and subjectivity. It is for this reason that they are an extremely important element in the human rights film festival programme.
Whilst the medium of narrative fiction film can indeed be criticised for prioritising entertainment value above all else, it should not be dismissed in the human rights context as it “has the capacity to intervene” and influence public understanding.140 If, for example, I return to the first phase of the film festival phenomenon distinguished by de Valck, it is evident that such film festivals emerged with a view to using film as a form of propaganda in order to advance social and political agendas.141 The early edition of Venice International Film Festival, for example, programmed a predominant number of fiction films.142 Whilst the human rights film festival is working to promote a decidedly different agenda to the early European film festivals, this demonstrates that the belief
137 Swimelar, “Visual Culture and Pedagogy: Teaching Human Rights with Film and Images”
138Swimelar, “Visualising International Relations: Assessing Student Learning Through Film,” 15.
139Shapiro, “How Real Is the Reality in Documentary Film?” 80.
140 John Broughton in Swimelar, “Visualising International Relations: Assessing Student Learning Through Film,” 15.
141 De Valck, Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia, 19.
142 Le Biennale, “The 30s” accessed 20th May 2015 http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/history/the30s.html?back=true 29 that fiction film can influence public opinion has been an important dimension to film festivals since their beginnings.
Arguably documentary films are more likely to encourage debate because of the way in which they depict real people in the real world. However, I believe that narrative fiction film, when presented in the discursive context of the human rights film festival, can encourage a similar response. It is vital that human rights film festival programmers understand the inherent differences between narrative fiction film and documentary film and that they identify the strengths of each medium. For this reason we can look beyond the notion that documentary is more truthful than fiction and therefore should be given precedence in the human rights context. The two film genres play different roles in disseminating knowledge, shaping opinion and in turn contributing to the transformation process that creates viewers who are part of a growing body of opinion that can influence political change. As I have suggested above, narrative fiction film, precisely because it is not limited to depicting “truthfulness,” can alert people to new perspectives on human rights, open up alternative debates and engage audiences in a different way to that of the documentary film.
3.2 Reaching New Audiences
One of the main goals of the human rights film festival is to promote to as wide audience as possible, social justice and human rights advocacy. I believe that to fulfil this aim, unless the film festival is specifically documentary-themed, it is necessary to screen a combination of non-fiction documentary and narrative fiction film at the human rights film festival.143
It is indisputable that the medium of documentary film has grown exponentially in popularity over the last two decades. Anna Godas of the UK’s leading documentary distribution company, Dogwoof Pictures, suggests that Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, which won the 2004 Cannes Palme d’Or award, marked a shift in the attitudes of film-makers and cinephiles.144 Until this point it was virtually unheard of that a documentary would win the most prestigious award at a mainstream festival. Since this pivotal moment in the history of documentary film a growing number of mainstream film festivals such as the Berlinale, Venice and Cannes are choosing to screen an increasing number of documentaries. In 2012 the Marché du Film at Cannes opened Doc Corner, a
143 11/38 of the festivals within the Human Rights Film Network are specifically documentary themed.
144 Anna Godas quoted in “The Rise of Documentary Film: The shocking Truth” in The Economist accessed 23rd May 2015, http:// www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2013/08/rise-documentary-film 30 space specifically dedicated to documentary cinema.145 Moreover, shifting attitudes towards the genre are visible in the growing number of documentary-themed film festivals appearing in cities worldwide. The 2014 British Film Institute (BFI) statistical year book demonstrates that the number of documentaries released in British cinemas has dramatically increased in recent years, from 4 in 2001 to 89 in 2013.146 The number of documentaries available on Netflix has also risen considerably in the last few years. The on-demand media streaming platform now produces its own non-fiction feature length documentaries and documentary series. However, whilst these developments do indeed outline a change in the cinematic landscape, the documentary film genre still seems to attract a niche, elitist audience. For example, the 89 documentaries released in UK cinemas in 2013 still only equates to 12% of the total number of films released in that year.147
From my experience of attending the 2015 edition of the One World documentary film festival in Prague, I would argue that the audiences these films attract become even more elitist once they are framed within the discourse of a specialist subject. In the context of the One World human rights film festival audiences seem to be predominantly individuals with a vested interest in human rights concerns: academics, NGO employees, activists and journalists. In other words this particular festival does not seem to reach out, or appeal to the broader public. One World reminded me of observations made by Torchin regarding the environmentally themed Uist Eco film festival in Scotland.148 Torchin quotes an acquaintance of hers who questioned the activist potential of the Uist Eco festival when it seemed to “do little more than preach to the converted.”149 Such an analysis of the activist potential of the film festival invites interrogation of the assumed audience transformation process that supposedly takes place at human rights film festivals. Torchin acknowledges how the opinion of her acquaintance highlights “the expectation of transformation as well as the demand for outreach.”150 However, she seems to align herself with activist singer/ songwriter Harry Belafonte who, following a screening of the documentary about his life Sing your Song at the 2011 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, asserted “if one stops preaching
145 Festival de Cannes, “Doc Corner,” Accessed 23rd May 2015, http://www.marchedufilm.com/en/doccorner
146BFI, “Statistical Yearbook 2014,” Accessed 23rd May 2015, http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-statistical- yearbook-2014.pdf, 35.
147 Ibid.
148 Torchin, “Networked for Advocacy,” 2.
149 Ibid.
150 Ibid. 31 to the choir, they may stop singing.”151 Whilst agreeing with this sentiment, I think it important that festivals invest in expanding their dissemination strategies so to attract new audiences. It is important to engage with, and tap into, the broader public conscience in order to expose human rights violations, transfer knowledge and influence political change. The programming choices of human rights film festivals have a clear impact on who walks through the doors. As French film director and screenwriter, Robert Jules Guédiguian proclaims: “there are no forms of cinema that are superior to others…Nevertheless, the most public and popular form is most certainly fiction.”152 I would endorse this view and I believe that the more accessible medium of fiction film can play an intermediary role between the broader, less specialised public, and pressing human rights concerns. A film such as Steve McQueen’s 2013 oscar award-winning film 12 Years a Slave (fig.5), for example, may engage broader audiences with issues of slavery, colonialism and racism, which could in turn encourage an interest in a documentary such as Göran Olsson’s 2014 documentary Concerning Violence,(fig.6) which presents more concrete facts surrounding similar issues.
Fig.5 12 Years a Slave 2013 US Fig.6 Concerning Violence 2014 UK distribution poster, Source: IMDB Distribution Poster, Source: IMDB
151 Ibid., 6.
152 Robert Guedeguian quoted in “The prospects for political cinema today: a critical symposium featuring commentary by Gianni Amelio, Olivier Assayas, Costa-Gavras, John Gianvito, Amos Gitai, Robert Greenwald, Rajko Grlic, Robert Guedeguian, John Hughes, Pere Portabella, Sally Potter, Kelly Reichardt, John Sayles, and Travis Wilkerson” in Cineaste. 37.1 Winter 2011 (Cineaste Inc. 2011), 6. 32 Choosing to programme fiction films that have already been screened at a number of other film festivals which are not specifically human rights themed can also attract attention. Once films enter the film festival circuit they are legitimised and their cultural value is increased.153 De Valck, considering this cultural validation, refers to Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of cultural capital. She asserts that “Film festivals…are sites of passage that function as the gateways to cultural legitimisation.”154 The same applies to documentary film, but the narrative fiction film, as I have sought to demonstrate, attracts a broader audience. In this way narrative fiction film can be a marketing strategy. Once audiences are drawn to the festival via the narrative fiction film, they may find they are interested in a certain human rights issue, and may investigate what else the festival has to offer, be encouraged to watch a documentary film on the same topic, and even engage in discussion or debate. Narrative fiction film therefore acts as a gateway into the human rights discourse which at times can seem impenetrable, over-complicated, remote, and abstract.
Additionally, narrative fiction film is more accessible than documentary because its cinematic qualities are further away from the aesthetic of television news or mainstream media broadcasting. The documentary film, whilst it can also be cinematically engaging and present captivating narratives, could be regarded by those unfamiliar with the medium as too close to the style of mainstream news reporting. Torchin links the term “infomercial” with One World founder, Igor Blazevic’s description of the human rights film as “being more concerned with information than entertainment.”155 She suggests that some television commercials have similar characteristics to the medium of documentary in that they both make use of “truth-telling devices to convince the viewer of an action to take.”156 Whilst Torchin does not necessarily dismiss this style of film, I would argue that such similarities with the medium of documentary could result in people unfamiliar with the genre dismissing such films as uninteresting. The result is that these individuals will not engage with a human rights film festival with a programme dominated by documentary. If such films do, to some degree, perpetuate the tropes of mainstream news broadcasting, the result could be that they contribute to “compassion fatigue” referred to in chapter 2, regardless of whether or not these films are ethical in their visual representation of human rights issues. Rather than encouraging the audience to act by engaging with them on a deep emotional level, the factual, informative nature of
153De Valck, Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia, 37.
154Ibid.
155Blazevic quoted in Torchin, “Networked for Advocacy,” 4.
156Torchin, “Networked for Advocacy,” 4. 33 the documentary film could turn audiences away from the issues. Narrative fiction films are more likely to draw a broader audience as they can cultivate empathy by connecting with the viewer on an emotional level. This is largely due to the use of all-immersive cinematic sound and visual techniques, effective characterisation, and compelling story-telling.
3.3 Utilising Emotional Engagement for Pedagogical Purposes
In this section I will expand upon the notion that narrative fiction film engages the reader on a deeper emotional level than non-fiction documentary and therefore has the potential to be a more captivating medium, at least initially in attracting new advocates to the cause of human rights. As Swimelar points out, whilst many human rights documentaries also evoke emotion in the viewer, the genre of narrative fiction film “has a greater potential” to reach out to audiences in this way.157 She argues that such films often dramatise stories better than documentaries. The success of documentary films such as Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing, however is a clear exception to this somewhat sweeping generalisation and demonstrates how documentary filmmakers can indeed creatively make use of extremely effective cinematic techniques and in turn tell captivating stories. I am aware that the difference between the way in which the two mediums engage audiences is more nuanced and the assertion that narrative fiction films are always more captivating is simplistic. Nevertheless since the beginning of film history, film theorists have attempted to pin down exactly what it is about narrative fiction film that so effectively captivates and draws in audiences.158
Tarja Laine, by closing in on the “reciprocal” relationship between the spectator and the filmic text, has analysed the way in which narrative fiction film emotionally engages the viewer.159 Laine does not write about human rights film, or films with specifically political agendas, but rather chooses to focus her attention on Hollywood blockbusters such as Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. However, she does attempt to make some observations that can be applied to the role of narrative fiction films more generally. She takes a phenomenological approach to analysing fiction film in order to establish the spectator’s “affective and embodied engagement with cinema.”160 Laine echoes Bruce
157Swimelar, “Visualising International Relations: Assessing Student Learning Through Film,” 18.
158Ibid., 17.
159 Tarja Laine, BODIES IN PAIN: Emotion and the Cinema of Darren Aronofsky, (New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2015), 14.
160 Ibid. 34 Isaac’s assertion that cinema is “an inherently participatory art” and the viewer’s engagement with film is an immersive event that penetrates the imagination by taking over the senses: the spectator's entire body and mind.161
It is this bodily engagement with the filmic object that Laine describes that leads audiences to relate to the characters they see on screen. She claims that aesthetically, the medium of fiction film affects the senses, and conceptually “engages our thinking and imagination.”162 This view reflects Sontag’s belief that fiction film and literature “stimulates our imagination…and improves our sympathies.”163 This stimulation of the imagination causes empathy in the viewer and forces spectators to reflect upon their individual human experiences, and more generally, the “human condition in a unique way.”164 When films are screened in the human rights context, they further encourage such reflection, and the expansion programmes surrounding screenings help to bring the filmic experience back into the real-world and debate about real circumstances and on-going challenges.
Swimelar, who has written extensively on the use of fiction film for the purpose of teaching students about politics and international relations, outlines two main advantages of the emotional connection that spectators experience when watching fiction film. She suggests that the overall benefit of emotional engagement is the “ability of images to both individualise and universalise suffering, taking human rights from the abstract to the concrete.” To individuals new to the human rights discourse, this universalisation is perhaps more achievable via a fiction film that effectively dramatises a compelling narrative. As I mentioned previously, human rights documentary film can still seem too intrinsically linked to the sometimes impenetrable legal language of human rights, or appear too similar to the “infomercial” Torchin describes in her essay on the topic.
Narrative fiction film has been designed not simply to relay information, but rather to have emotional effects on the viewer.165 Studies in the field of neuroscience have proven that “emotion
161 Bruce Isaac quoted in Laine, BODIES IN PAIN: Emotion and the Cinema of Darren Aronofsky, 16.
162Laine, BODIES IN PAIN: Emotion and the Cinema of Darren Aronofsky, 14.
163Sontag, “Essay: The Truth of Fiction Evokes our Common Humanity” in LA Times, 12/29/04.
164Paul Crowther quoted in Laine, BODIES IN PAIN: Emotion and the Cinema of Darren Aronofsky, 14.
165 Swimelar, “Visualising International Relations: Assessing Student Learning Through Film,” 18. 35 drives attention, creates meaning” and has the capacity to etch information in memory.166 This reliance on the use of emotion can be problematic and manipulative, but if done well emotional engagement can be used to tell stories and encourage interest in topics the viewer may not otherwise have been exposed to. In the context of human rights, fiction films, via the stories they tell, can demonstrate that combatting social injustice and political wrongs is “not only technical, political or economic, but may be individual and emotional.”167
Narrative fiction films have more freedom to create captivating stories, as they are not sculpted by the constraints of truthfulness and the need to remain tied to recounting facts and information. Part of their appeal may be the ability to take the audiences on a journey and into a life different from the reality the spectator is used to; after all, people buy into escapism. However, by tapping into emotional sensibilities and drawing on basic human feelings, such films transpose these stories from the realm of the imaginary and into the real-world. Spectators can translate what they see on- screen to wider human experience. When relayed via a narrative fiction film, the human rights violations we are used to seeing in mainstream media become more personal because they are intertwined with emotion. This reminds audiences that human rights violations and social injustices are not only embedded in the legal and practical, but also in the essence of what it means to be human. This relates to negating Sobchak’s argument that documentary film is a more powerful medium than fiction in encouraging audiences to consider the real-world. Rather, the two genres both achieve this goal albeit in different ways. If absolute “truthfulness” is not prioritised then narrative fiction film can play a legitimate role in enhancing public engagement with pressing human rights concerns. This means films should remain close to the “truthfulness” of the human condition rather than tied to solid facts and the known circumstances of real-life events. The ability for films to harness emotional engagement, tell captivating stories and invite spectators to consider the implications of their place in the world should be regarded as equally important considerations when programming a human rights film festival.
The next chapter will discuss the human rights film festival case study: The Amnesty International Film Festival Movies that Matter. I will apply both theoretical research and first-hand observations in order to analyse the programming techniques of this festival, with particular reference to the 2015 edition. I will analyse how narrative fiction films are selected and presented and examine how
166 Lynn Kuzma and Patrick Haney in Swimelar, “Visualising International Relations: Assessing Student Learning Through Film,” 18.
167Swimelar, “Visualising International Relations: Assessing Student Learning Through Film,” 18. 36 the chosen modes of presentation encourage the supposed transformation of the viewer into an active spectator, or an engaged participant in the human rights discourse. I will consider how the festival location, and specifically the film screening locations, play a role in the festival programming and in turn the ability to achieve its overall aims. Beyond the question of locality, by focusing on the Q & As, educational programmes, award ceremonies, and other related events I will analyse how the “interpellatory context” of the human rights film festival Tascon describes, plays out in the specific context of Movies that Matter. I will evaluate how the contextualisation of film screenings enhances a film’s transformative power, and whether or not this varies between non- fiction and fiction film.
4. MOVIES THAT MATTER, THE HAGUE ————————————————————————————————————————
4.1 Festival Background
Movies that Matter is an Amnesty International initiative founded in 2006 as a continuation, and replacement, of the Amnesty International Film Festival. The original Amnesty International Film Festival took place in Amsterdam between 1995-2008. During this time it was a founding member of the Human Rights Film Network. In 2009 the festival was relocated to Den Haag, and its name changed to Movies that Matter. Like its predecessor, Movies that Matter is a festival underpinned by the belief that film is powerful enough to make a difference as it can “promote the human rights dialogue, influence public opinion and encourage people to stand up for human rights.”168 The affiliation with a well-known and respected non-government organisation such as Amnesty International not only legitimises and justifies the festival's existence, but also helps to garner public and media interest. An organisation like Amnesty International which aims “to investigate and expose the facts, whenever and wherever abuses happen” also has a vested interest in such events as they can be extremely beneficial in furthering the organisation's causes.169 As Human Rights Watch festival director Bruni Burres claims, “film supplies the human face…and provides the much-needed narrative background for activist work.”170
168 Movies that Matter, “About Us”, Accessed 7th June 2015, http://www.moviesthatmatter.nl/english_index/over_ons_en.
169 Amnesty International, “home”, Accessed 7th June, 2015, http://www.amnesty.org.uk/
170 Bruni Burres quoted in Iordanova, “Film Festivals and Dissent” 14. 37 On the Movies that Matter website, the mission and vision of the festival is described as follows:
Movies that Matter believes that the film camera is a powerful weapon against social indifference. Film has an unprecedented capacity to open eyes. What cannot be accomplished by spoken and written language, is sometimes achieved by motion picture. Cinema fascinates, stimulates, inspires and raises awareness. It serves as a mirror and helps us to become familiar with other cultures. Inspired films incite compassion, reflection and discussion. Films have an emotional appeal and serve as a mouthpiece for victims of injustice…For all those reasons, film is an excellent way to stir debate and promote human rights education.171
This statement demonstrates the festival’s desire to disseminate knowledge and educate as many people as possible about human rights. Movies that Matter, like other human rights film festivals, provides an extensive programme of events that frame the individual screenings which contribute to the festival’s ability to fulfil its aims in promoting social justice and engaging and educating the local and global community.
The broader festival location and the individual screening locations play an important role in defining the overall character of the festival, influencing its programming decisions. This affects the festival’s audience, who attends the screenings and accompanying events. It is particularly significant to note that Movies that Matter takes place in Den Haag: a European city and home to the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Courts. It is a city which therefore has strong connotations with peace and justice the world over. The festival location means that political advocacy becomes a central focus of the work of the organisation. According to Movies that Matter project coordinator, Matthea de Jong, the festival aims to “directly engage decision makers.” This is achieved either by inviting influential people working in the field of international justice to specific screenings and events related to their work, or by actually organising private screenings in the workplaces of these individuals.172
The main public screenings and events throughout the nine-day festival usually take place either at the Filmhuis Den Haag, or the neighbouring Theater aan het Spui. These are both large spaces and important cultural hubs in the city. Throughout the festival they are completely taken over with Movies that Matter. As well as screenings and related events, this “take-over” is visible from the festival paraphernalia, banners and posters that adorn the internal and external walls of the buildings. Cut-outs of the festival logo, the butterfly, which “embodies vulnerability, but also
171 Movies that Matter, “About Us”, Accessed 7th June 2015, http://www.moviesthatmatter.nl/english_index/over_ons_en.
172 Matthea De Jong quoted in Grassilli, “Human Rights Film Festivals: Global/Local Networks for Advocacy,” 41. 38 inspiration, freedom of thought and the capacity to change,” are hung throughout the space, on the walls and ceilings.173 This “take-over” of the two spaces plays a significant role in creating a unique atmosphere and contributes to the creation and legitimisation of a temporary public forum that adopts the main tropes of other, more mainstream film festivals.
The proximity of the Filmhuis and the Theater aan het Spui to the centre of the city and the main railway station encourages passers-by to investigate what the festival has on offer, rather than simply accommodating those individuals who are already aware of the event. The fact that the Filmhuis is the festival centre perhaps encourages visitors to the festival who do not have a prior interest in human rights, but are simply interested in seeing a film. The Filmhuis has a total of five screening halls and the Theater ann het Spui two, so throughout the festival there is always a number of different screenings happening simultaneously. Festival guests may turn up without a distinct idea of what they will see, but the multiplicity of cinema screens allows for such last-minute decision-making.174 This year the festival programme was split into seven different categories and often a film from each category was screened at the same time in different screening halls. Programming the festival in this way ensures that different tastes can be accommodated and audiences are presented with an array of choice at any one time.
4.2 Programming Overview: 2015 Edition
Before analysing in more detail the narrative fiction films screened at this the 2015 edition of Movies that Matter I will give a brief overview of the festival programming. As already mentioned, this years edition was split up into seven main categories. These programmes were brought forward from previous years: A Matter of ACT, Camera Justitia, In This World, The IDFA Selection, the ‘best of’ programme Harvest, a retrospective and an educational programme. Each year, A Matter of Act is the main programme at the festival. It is always composed of ten documentaries concerning the work of different human rights defenders. The Golden Butterfly Human Rights award is given to an activist depicted in a documentary in this category, and the Golden Butterfly Documentary Award is given to the director of the best film of this selection.175 The Camera Justitia programme also presents a series of documentaries accompanied by debates and discussions
173Movies that Matter, “About Us”, Accessed 7th June 2015, http://www.moviesthatmatter.nl/english_index/over_ons_en.
174 De Valck, Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia, 21.
175 Movies that Matter Festival Program, 14. 39 surrounding the “worldwide fight against impunity.”176 A five-person jury chooses a film from this selection to receive the Camera Justitia award. This year, the Movies that Matter retrospective category focused on the work of documentary filmmaker, Hubert Sauper. The In This World category, named after Michael Winterbottom’s 2002 documentary, was made up of a combination of narrative fiction films and non-fiction documentaries. Many of the films in this programme had already been screened, and won awards, at a number of international film festivals. The IDFA Selection was composed of fourteen documentary films from the latest IDFA edition. The Harvest 2014 programme was made up of four fiction films and one documentary film. These films were selected by film fans who could vote for their favourite human rights-themed film that had been released in Dutch cinemas in 2014. The educational programme entitled Young Amnesty Film Days presented ten human rights films aimed at secondary school students and higher level primary school students. During the festival, films were also screened in schools in Den Haag and Amsterdam. The films and an accompanying education pack are available by request from the Movies that Matter website. The 2015 selection consisted of 4 fiction films and 6 documentaries.
The Movies that Matter mission statement quoted above clearly illustrates the festival’s belief in the power of film. It makes no claim that there is a hierarchy of genres whereby the non-fiction documentary film is given precedence over the narrative fiction film. However, an analysis of the festival archive, which covers the last five years and can be found on the website, shows that since 2010 the programmed number of narrative fiction films has remained at considerably less than the programmed number of non-fiction documentary films.177 Furthermore, it is interesting to note that the 2015 festival screened fewer narrative fiction films than non-fiction documentary films compared to the 4 years previously. The graph on the following page illustrates the exact figures.
This year, out of the festival’s seven programming categories only three of them included non- fiction film: In this World, Harvest 2014 and Young Amnesty Film Days. However, both the opening and closing films at the festival were narrative fiction films. Choosing to programme a combination of the two genres increases the number of people attending the festival as it is not simply targeting the niche audience interested in only human rights, or only documentary film. The possibility reaching beyond the boundaries of these elite, or more traditional core audience, and into the broader public, is enhanced. I will now look more closely at the selected fiction films in the 2015
176 Ibid. 17.
177 Movies that Matter, “About Us”, Accessed 7th June 2015, http://www.moviesthatmatter.nl/english_index/over_ons_en. 40 edition in order to analyse how such films contribute to fulfilling the festival’s overall aims of educating and enlightening the spectator.
A graph to show the number of non-fiction documentary films and narrative fiction films screened at Movies that Matter (2010 - 2015) 80
60
40 Narrative Fiction Film Non-Fiction Documentary No. of films screened No. of films 20
0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Fig.7 Source: Author’s Own
4.3 Narrative Fiction Films at Movies that Matter
The Harvest 2014 programme, for which the ‘best of’ human rights films were selected by “film fans” through an online voting system in the January prior to the festival, is perhaps indicative that narrative fiction film is more memorable than non-fiction documentary. The results of the ballot may indicate an apparent desire of “film fans” to see more narrative fiction screened at the human rights film festival, or indeed, that such films are given more credit for their ability to confront pressing human rights issues. This observation is based on the fact that four out of five of the winning films this year were narrative fiction films: Matthew Warchus’ Pride, Paula van der Oest’s Lucie de B., Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan and The Dardenne Brothers’ most recent film, Deux jours, une nuit. Of course this could also be illustrative of the point discussed earlier - that mainstream cinemas are still more likely to screen narrative fiction film over documentary film. The
41 result is therefore, that available film choices are already heavily weighted towards fiction. It is interesting to note that the voting “film fans,” because they access the voting system via the Movies that Matter website and social media forums, are already people most likely express a keen interest in the field of human rights and human rights media, rather than the broader public. However, as I was unable to conduct private interviews with festival attendees, the Harvest programming category, at this stage in my research, is the only opportunity whereby conclusions can be drawn about public opinion.
The selection of winning films also demonstrates that those which remain close to facts and close to reality, are not necessarily a priority amongst voters. As well as the fact that only one documentary was selected, two of the films chosen, Deux jours, une nuit and Leviathan are entirely fictitious storylines. The other two winning films, Pride and Lucie de B are fictional narratives based on real- life situations. The selection of winning films in this category illustrates how the notion of “truthfulness” in the context of cinema is on a gradient which may be interpreted as “documentary — fiction-based-on-fact — fiction film”. When presented within the human rights discourse there is not necessarily a hierarchy of such “truthfulness.” Rather, along with cinematic quality, it is the ideas expressed in the film and how the spectator relates to ideas in the context of their own life, that are important. Whether a film is based on true events or not, does not mean that films cannot be read in the context of reality, and within the global human rights discourse.
The films selected in this category were screened two or three times each throughout the festival and usually were not accompanied by a debate or discussion, unlike film screenings in the other programming categories. However, similarly to the way in which the other films at the festival were presented, the Movies that Matter online programme frames each film within specific human rights issues. For example Pride is listed under “G ay & LGBT rights, labour issues & trade unions, social and peace movements and discrimination & racism.”178 In this way these films could act as gateways for the festival attendee to go on and watch more films based around similar issues. The Harvest category is important for Movies that Matter, as not only does it allow for potential festival attendees to feel included in the programming via the public voting system, but it also attracts widespread attention by screening films that have a degree of hype surrounding them because they have already entered the film distribution market and had widespread release, across the Netherlands and internationally.
178 Movies that Matter, “About Us”, Accessed 7th June 2015, http://www.moviesthatmatter.nl/english_index/over_ons_en. 42 The Young Amnesty Film Days category was, as previously mentioned, made up of 6 documentaries and 4 fiction films. These films were screened in schools in the Netherlands with an expansive education programme put together by the Movies that Matter education team. The combination of documentary and fiction in the pedagogical context is very important as, following Swimelar’s reasoning, students, particularly primary school age, are more likely to engage with a compelling narrative that is emotionally engaging, than a documentary that may resonate with the “infomercial” Torchin identifies. Combining narrative fiction films and non-fiction documentaries in this category perhaps helps to maintain the attention of the young audience. Mari Sander’s short fiction film Rue des Invalides, for example was screened side-by-side with Marcel Barrena’s documentary Little World. Both films explore similar themes to do with disability rights. Whilst they deploy different story-telling methods they both support the claims the other makes, and also highlight that all stories, whether fiction or non-fiction; fantasy or reality are both inspired by and embedded within the world around us.
The final category at the festival which includes the programming of narrative fiction film is the panorama In This World section. Fifteen out of thirty-five of these films were narrative fiction film. All the films in this category were chosen as “prime examples of recent human rights cinema.”179 The choice to programme films that are already recognised elsewhere, and already recipients of awards at film festivals, both human rights-related and otherwise, not only adds to the hype surrounding the films and the filmmakers, but also is useful “in directing attention to an issue or cause.”180 The inclusion of films that have already been screened at the most prestigious film festivals also enhances the cultural capital of Movies that Matter, adding to its appeal and fostering media attention. Boris Lojkine’s fictional film Hope, which won the SACD Award at Cannes in 2014, and Zeresenay Mehari’s fictional film Difret, which won the Audience Award at both Sundance and the Berlinale in 2014 are two examples, amongst others, of films with a “buzz” and high recognition factor that are included in this category. As Torchin points out, film screenings are only one element of the festival that contributes to its ability to disseminate knowledge and transform as many audience members as possible into actively engaged participants.181 The majority of the films in the In This World category, whether narrative fiction film or non-fiction
179 Movies that Matter festival program, 47.
180Torchin, ‘Networked for Advocacy: Film Festivals and Activism.’ 7.
181Ibid., 8. 43 documentary, were framed within an extensive expansion programme. In the case of the non-fiction documentary films, the main protagonists, the activists, the sufferers of injustice, and often the filmmakers themselves, attended Q&As, panel discussions and workshops. For example photographer and filmmaker Ziad Homsi, director of the Syrian road movie/documentary, Our Terrible Country, attended a number of post-screening debates resulting in the opportunity for audience members to discuss issues and questions raised by his film. In this sense, what the audience sees on-screen is literally transferred into the off-screen space.182
In the case of narrative fiction films, experts on the issues raised by the films were often called in to take part in debates and discussions. These debates helped to transfer the fictionalised stories of the films into the real-world context. Often filmmakers and activists, who were already at the festival because their own film was being screened, took part in Q&As and discussions following films that investigated issues similar to those explored in their own films. For example in a talk-show following the screening of Alessio Cremonini’s Border, a narrative fiction film about two sisters who set off on a journey to escape Syria, Yassin al-Haj Saleh from Syria, the main protagonist and activist captured in Homsi’s Our Terrible Country, activist Nawal El Saadawi from Egypt, the main protagonist in the documentary The Free Voice of Egypt, and Maryam al-Khawaja from Bahrain, the main protagonist in the documentary, We are the Giant, all came together to discuss with human rights diplomat Petra Stienen the situation in their countries. Framing a fiction film such as Borders in this way not only reminds the audience of how interlinked the fictionalised story is with reality, but also encourages talk-show attendees to watch the programmed documentaries that cover similar topics, especially when they have heard from the main protagonists behind these films. Again, this supports claims that in the context of the human rights film festival, a narrative fiction film plays an intermediary, gateway role, between the festival attendee and the often abstract and impenetrable discourse of human rights.
Regarding the notion of “truthfulness” and going beyond prioritising the depiction of truth and reality in the human rights film, I would argue that the expansion programme and the contextualisation of screenings undoubtedly plays a significant role in how such films are received at human rights film festivals. The discussions and debates at human rights film festivals, unlike at mainstream film festivals, “(goes) beyond the film and address(es) the issues that the film is
182 Ibid. 44 concerned with.”183 This is the same, whether it be a non-fiction documentary film that captures real people in the real-world, or a narrative fiction film with actors playing scripted characters in constructed environments. Panel discussions, Q & As, workshops and educational programmes therefore are all key elements that make sure the human rights film festival still remains, as Iordanova argues, a “key component of the activist dissemination strategy.”184 The closeness to real-life facts and capturing real events should perhaps not always be the primary point of departure for human rights film festival programmers, but rather the ability of films to explore human rights issues, open up debate, and question the inherent power of story-telling and the very medium of film as a tool against social injustice. When presented in the context of a human rights film festival, fiction films can be as powerful as documentary film in getting audience members to relate what they see on-screen to the world they inhabit.
In the next section I will look specifically at the aforementioned opening film of the 2015 festival: Abderrahmane Sissako’s, Timbuktu. It is interesting to note that whilst the number of narrative fiction films screened at this year’s festival is less than half the number of non-fiction documentary films, the Movies that Matter programmers still selected a narrative fiction film to open and close the festival: the most prominent screening slot throughout the festival. This could be a way to attract attention and expand the festival's profile, as well as negate potential criticism that human rights film is simply “information and testimony” rather than cinematically stimulating, entertaining and emotionally engaging. Narrative fiction film maintains the tropes of mainstream Hollywood cinema and therefore remains more appealing to broader audiences than documentary. Choosing to programme a film in the opening screening slot that has already screened at a number of international festivals also captures the public imagination and their attention, and encourages potential festival attendees to investigate further the rest of the festival programme.
183Iordanova, “Film Festivals and Dissent” 16.
184 Ibid., 18. 45 4.4. Film in Focus: Timbuktu, Abderrahmane Sissako, France/Mauritania, 2014
Fig. 8, Timbuktu 2014 US distribution Poster, Source: IMDB
Abderrahmane Sissako’s Oscar award-nominated film, Timbuktu (fig.8) opened Movies that Matter this year. The film tells the story of a town in Mali that is under the oppressive hand of religious fundamentalists. According to Sissako, the film is a depiction of the director’s childhood country — many of the scenes were inspired by true events that Sissako felt were ignored and cast aside by the media.185 In 2012, for example, Al Qaida fighters stoned a couple to death because they had children out of wedlock yet, such an atrocious story was hardly given media coverage.186 Sissako manages to bring such pressing issues to the surface in a compelling mode of narrative film- making. In this way, whilst the film is depicting fictitious characters through embellished and interlinking narratives, it still manages to shine a light on a real-life situation that warrants attention,
185Movies that Matter, “Timbuktu”, Accessed 7th June 2015, http://www.moviesthatmatter.nl
186Ibid. 46 and a country whose “rich and humane traditions” are under threat.187 The film is cinematically stimulating, beautifully shot, and thoroughly engaging. The viewer witnesses events unfold through the eyes of twelve year-old Toya. By capturing the subtleties of human emotion, Timbuktu is a good example of a film that both individualises and universalises human suffering. It is sensitive in its representation, compelling to watch and covers a number of pressing human rights issues that are extremely topical in the current political climate. The film covers an increasingly politically relevant topic and clearly illustrates how audiences viewing fiction film can look beyond the screen and into “our own life-world,” opposing Sobchak’s view that such a looking through the screen can only be achieved when viewing non-fiction documentary film.
The opening screening of Timbuktu coincided with a week-long retrospective of Sissako’s work at the EYE film museum, Amsterdam. This included screening three of the director’s earlier films: La vie sur terre, Bamako and Heremakono. Movies that Matter’s choice to programme an opening film that coincides with an event like this at the national film archive is a way to not only honour the film and filmmaker, but also market the film festival event itself. Frequent visitors to EYE may be drawn in by the films of Sissako and then inclined to further investigate events surrounding the screening of Timbuktu at Movies that Matter. The festival programmed a number of events that framed the opening film. As a large part of the film was about the presence of music it seemed appropriate that the opening screening was followed by a performance by the Malian blues musician Samba Touré. Two screenings of the film later on in the festival were followed by Q&As. Filmmaker, Elena Lindemanns talked to Leteke Schouten, an expert on Malian culture who grew up in West Africa. Again, such after-screening panels open up the topics and issues explored on-screen into the festival arena. Sissako’s fictional characters were, in essence, transposed into reality. Audience members were able to feel both involved and enlightened. The ability to pose questions and stir debate is what separates a film screening of Timbuktu in the context of the human rights film festival from other mainstream festival screenings, or its eventual showing in cinema listings.
In relation to earlier comments on the power of fiction film in the context of human rights, I would argue that Timbuktu is a very strong example, and therefore an excellent choice to open the festival. The film is an example of both Swimelar’s and Anker’s claims that it is entirely due to the imaginative potential of such films that they are able to play a significant role in advancing the global struggle agains injustice and human rights abuses. Some of the scenes in this film were only
187 Peter Bradshaw, “Cannes 2014: Timbuktu,” Accessed 7th June 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/may/14/cannes-film- festival-review-timbuktu 47 possible precisely because it is fictional, and not shaped by reality constraints. In an interview with The Guardian about making the film, Sissako described how he had originally wanted to make a documentary on the topics covered in the film.188 However, he realised that in dealing with such prevalent, sensitive issues this would not be possible. He said: “you can’t make a documentary where people aren’t free to speak. And the risk is that you make a film for the jihadists — because they’re the ones who are going to do the talking.”189 This quote clearly illustrates the benefits of fiction film when dealing with difficult and sensitive issues and the capacity of the medium to intervene, expose injustices, and influence public understanding in a way that documentary perhaps cannot. Timbuktu demonstrates how fiction film can bypass reality yet simultaneously hold a mirror up to it. In this sense one could argue that Sissako’s choice to make a fiction film has lead to a more honest portrayal than if he had chosen to make a documentary film. Again, this calls into question the boundaries of truthfulness, justice and storytelling in general. The choice to open the festival with a film that leads the audience to interrogate such notions, which in the end shape our very understanding of human rights and its histories, seems all encompassing of the festivals aims and ambitions.
5. CONCLUSION ——————————————————————————————————
Sissako’s Timbuktu brings me back to the point where I first began this essay as it demonstrates the validity of Ingmar Bergman’s statement that fiction film is indeed an art form that “goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.”190 By entering into our conscience and etching information on our memory a film such as Timbuktu is an ideal example of how the medium of fiction film is arguably impacting enough to entice change, and therefore serves a justifiable purpose within the human rights film festival programme. By analysing the benefits of emotional engagement, compelling storytelling and the infinite reach of the imagination, this thesis has attempted to interrogate the way in which carefully selected narrative fiction films contribute to the fulfilment of a human rights film festival’s goal to disseminate knowledge and transform and mobilise as many viewers as possible.
188 Danny Leigh, “Timbuktu's director: why I dared to show hostage-taking jihadis in a new light”, accessed 8th June 2015, http:// www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/28/timbuktu-movie-jihadist-fighters-abderrahmane-sissako
189 Sissako quoted in Ibid.
190 See page 1. 48 I have attempted to address an existing gap in film festival theory by going beyond the analysis of recent scholars in the field who have focused their research on the predominance of non-fiction documentary film at the human rights film festival. The emphasis on this medium’s closeness to truthfulness and its likeness to the testimonial encounter, arguably creates a film festival forum that becomes a field of witnessing, whereby audience members are likely to take responsibility for what they experience on-screen, and act accordingly off-screen. The field of witnessing metaphor does not take into account films that present fictionalised characters and imagined narratives. I believe that if we go beyond the notion of truthfulness, and the assumption that documentary film is more truthful than fiction, a space can be opened up for the justification, and inclusion, of more narrative fiction films at the human rights film festival.
In conducting my research I have come to the conclusion that, in order to reach wide audiences and spread the message of human rights and social advocacy to as many people as possible a balanced combination of fiction and non-fiction films is crucial. Whilst human rights documentary film can be just as compelling and emotionally engaging it still only appeals to niche audiences, whereas narrative fiction film, which embodies many of the characteristics of Hollywood film, is also appealing to mainstream cinema goers and people who perhaps do not have a prior interest, or personal investment, in the human rights discourse. In this sense, narrative fiction film, particularly when presented in the context of the human rights film festival, can act as a gateway medium into the often impenetrable and abstract field of human rights. Narrative fiction film opens up topics, debates and pressing questions about the human condition; whereas documentary film presents real- life scenarios, facts and figures. In this way the two mediums complement one another and can work together to engage audiences, dispel knowledge, and shape aspirations and moral ideals. The discursive context of the human rights film festival also effects the reception of both non-fiction and fiction film thus contributing to the medium’s potential to transform the viewer. When placed within the context of human rights, film takes on the political and ethical demands of this discourse. Such demands are further highlighted by the screening contextualisation that takes place at a film festival: Q&As, discussions, debates and workshops. I believe that when presented in this way narrative fiction film can have the same effect as non-fiction documentary film in terms of relating what is seen on-screen to the reality of the world in which we inhabit.
49 Throughout this thesis I have emphasised the claim that films do not need to represent real people in real life scenarios in order for the spectator to transpose what they see on-screen to the real world. Echoing Anker’s and Swimelar’s argument I believe it is precisely because films are not tied down by truthfulness constraints that they are free to create compelling stories that encourage questions about different forms of visual representation, history-writing and story-telling in general. Precisely due to the existence of these fiction films in the realm of the imaginary they are a vital tool in determining moral principles and therefore are an extremely important component of the human rights film festival programme. All forms of creative expression reflect and shape reality, and therefore, when discussing an issue as fundamental as human rights it seems crucial to examine the potential contribution of narrative fiction films in the context of human rights festivals, particularly when the medium of film, both non-fiction and fiction, plays a considerable role in shaping the cultural, political and social landscape. I have attempted to steer clear of presenting too much of a dogmatic, binary approach to the narrative fiction film versus documentary film genres. I do not want to present the idea that one or the other is a more effective genre as a human rights awareness tool and therefore I have sort to negate any notion of a genre hierarchy. I have demonstrated how the two mediums can be used in tandem of on another so that they can fulfil the potential role of contributing to the desired network of action that underpins the existence of the human rights film festival.
I am aware that my thesis has a number of limitations. As my research approach relied heavily on secondary research and a direct observational case study method, it lacks original primary data. Therefore, at this stage I am in a position to only offer speculations that indicate possible directions for further research. For a more thorough analysis of the contribution of narrative fiction film in the context of human rights film festivals it would have been advantageous to complete opinion-based surveys using a cross section of audience members exiting screenings at Movies that Matter. Conducting interviews with festival programmers would have also been beneficial in mapping out the priorities of festival organisers. Furthermore, to gather a more comprehensive overview of the potential of narrative fiction film in the context of human rights advocacy it would have been necessary to examine the practices of a number of different human rights film festivals that choose to screen a combination of non-fiction and fiction film.
My investigation into the inclusion and justification of narrative fiction film at human rights film festivals has opened up a number of questions that point towards further research. For example, I
50 have only touched upon the different degrees of fact and fiction present in the two film genres I discuss. I would like to further analyse whether or not fiction films need to adhere to a certain criteria regarding the level of truthfulness they propel in order to be included, or limited proportionally, in the festival programming. Perhaps the inclusion of too many narrative fiction films would deter experts working in the field of human rights as it would then resonate too closely with entertainment purposes rather than legal or educational. In the same vain, an overload of narrative fiction film could undermine the role of the human rights film festival as thematically distinct from mainstream film festivals. I have also raised the question of what effect those films which do not sit definitively in either genre, fiction or non fiction, have in this discursive festival setting. Documentaries which combine the edited re-staging of events with real footage and narrative fiction films that are closely based on factual events fall in this category. Such films challenge the boundaries of truth and reality and the inability to definitively categorise them creates unease. Therefore these films raise questions of their own in relation to the human rights film festival and their role in contributing to the overall discourse of human rights. These are all questions that require further consideration and point to the need for further research.
Despite the limitations of my thesis I hope that I have presented a thorough analysis which addresses a topic that has not yet been explored in detail in the field of film festival studies. I hope that by addressing the existing gap in film festival theory, I have opened up the debate surrounding the contradictory proposition that fiction film may indeed represent reality, and in turn potentially contribute to the global quest for the betterment of society, most notably by addressing injustices and promoting human rights advocacy to as wider audience as possible. I return to Anker’s belief that fiction film, due to its existence in the realm of the imaginary, plays an important role in shaping the moral principles that “lie at the heart of a culture’s robust respect for human rights.”191 With this in mind, therefore, my argument rests upon the idea that the inclusion of such narrative fiction films in the human rights film festival is not only justifiable, but also necessary.
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Talks/Conferences
Ristovska, Sandra. “Institutional Video Advocacy: Tackling the Role of Human Rights Videos,” talk delivered at the University of Amsterdam Media Studies Department, 21/04/2015, Abstract: https:// www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/news/ristovska-deliver-talk-university-amsterdam-media-studies- department
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