Documentary film politics and the politics of documentary film

Abstract

This paper sets out to consider the production of political documentary films in post-apartheidSouth Africa at a time when massification of the media and state capture of the South AfricanBroadcasting Corporation, the country’s public broadcaster, silenced oppositional voices. RehadDesai’s award-winning film, Miners Shot Down (2014) serves as the main case study for theresearch. The film deals with the days leading up to the final and tragic outcome of strike action by minersat a time when the print media predicated the state and the mine owners’ points of view. Thefilmmaker, a self-acclaimed political activist, set out to recount the events by recreating a voice forthe mine workers by offering his personal reaction to the deaths of the 34 black men by interviewsand archival material. Miners Shot Down was received well locally and internationally, but as an overt political narrativepresented in a subjective reconstruction, some of the omissions may impact on a fuller understandingof the tragic event.tion. This finding prompted recommendations for entrepreneurs, policymakersand scholarship.