Short Documentary Research Articles

Refusal as a Creative Force: Practices of Audio-Visual Obscuration in Weathering Storms, Sketching Monasteries (2021)

My submission is a short documentary film on the precarious lives of Buddhist nuns in the religious tradition of Theravada Buddhism. This practice-as-research piece experiments with aesthetic elements of obscuration (such as darkness, silences, mis-matched subtitles and others) as a way of blocking a clear view and understanding of the subjects portrayed in the film. I conceptualise and investigate these methods as a potentially radical form of resistance towards not only objectification but also the prevalent impulse in much documentary work to ‘humanise’ marginalised individuals, proposing that this form of resistance offers an alternative engagement with alterity.

PEMBUATAN MURAL PARTISIPATORIS SEBAGAI ELEMEN ESTETIS DAN KONTEN MEDIA SOSIAL BERSAMA PERSATUAN ORANG TUA DAN ANAK DENGAN DOWN SYNDROME JAWA BARAT

Mural, in the form of public art, has the power to raise social issues by transforming public spaces into spaces of dialogue. Meanwhile, participation in contemporary art and design is an approach that actively involves the community in realizing a joint project. This paper discusses a community service project using participatory mural media to raise awareness about inclusive education issues for the future of children with special needs, particularly those with Down syndrome. Together with the community of parents and children with Down syndrome—POTADS PIK West Java—the community service team aims to foster a spirit of inclusivity through the role of parents and the creative expression of POTADS students, who are children with Down syndrome. Parents and community mentors of POTADS are given the opportunity to share their experiences and struggles regarding inclusive education. These stories and narratives are then transformed into visuals representing those experiences as visual symbols. The project process is also documented in the form of a short documentary to capture the creative journey and interactions between the service team and the POTADS community. Utilizing social media platforms, this short documentary aims to reach a wider audience, promote social inclusion, and showcase the creativity of individuals with Down syndrome. This project also highlights the role of art and participatory methods in community engagement, emphasizing the importance of community and contemporary art in supporting inclusive education. Mural, sebagai salah satu bentuk seni publik memiliki kemampuan untuk mengangkat isu sosial dengan mengubah ruang publik menjadi ruang ‘dialog’. Sementara itu partisipatori dalam seni dan desain kontemporer adalah bentuk pendekatan yang melibatkan secara aktif komunitas untuk realisasi projek bersama. Tulisan ini membahas Pengabdian Masyarakat yang menggunakan media mural partisipatoris sebagai peningkatan kesadaran akan isu pendidikan inklusif bagi masa depan anak dengan kebutuhan khusus terutama Down syndrome. Bersama-sama dengan komunitas orang tua dan anak dengan Down syndrome, POTADS PIK Jawa Barat. Tim Pengabdian masyarakat bertujuan untuk menumbuhkan semangat inklusivitas, melalui peran orang tua dan ekspresi kreatif siswa-siswi POTADS yang merupakan anak-anak dengan Down syndrome. Para orang tua sekaligus pembina komunitas POTADS diberikan kesempatan untuk bercerita tentang pengalaman dan perjuangan mereka untuk pendidikan inklusif, dimana nanti cerita dan narasi ini akan diubah menjadi visual yang merepresentasikan pengalaman tersebut menjadi simbol visual. Proses kegiaatan ini juga didokumentasikan dalam bentuk dokumenter singkat, tujuannya untuk menangkap perjalanan kreatif dan interaksi tim pengabdian bersama komunitas POTADS. Dengan memanfaatkan platform media sosial, film dokumenter singkat ini bertujuan untuk menjangkau khalayak yang lebih luas, mempromosikan inklusi sosial dan menunjukkan kreativitas individu dengan Down Syndrome. Proyek ini juga menyoroti bagaimana seni dan metode partisipatif dalam keterlibatan masyarakat, menekankan peran dan fungsi komunitas serta seni rupa kontemporer untuk pendidikan yang inklusif.

Un-making the student short documentary in a production class

This article discusses the pedagogical strategies of my documentary film production course that encourages students to resist traditional expectations of documentary films and student films. Inspired by Jill Godmilow’s manifesto that outlines why we need to ‘kill the documentary’, I similarly consider how we might ‘kill the student film’ – meaning that rather than students making work solely for teachers/classmates, they aim to produce work for a public audience. Here, I use the case study of a course section that resulted in several ‘antidocs’ where students resisted tropes of the genre to create films that screened at festivals and won awards.

Meet the mauna: Two short documentaries spotlight the Kanaka Maoli women leading the battle to save Mauna Kea

This article highlights two documentaries about the 2019 protests on Mauna Kea, a mountain sacred to native Hawaiians. Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio: This is the Way We Rise and Standing above the Clouds open up spaces for discussions about such topics as Indigenous history, gender studies, social justice and activism and environmental studies. They also offer filmmaking students models of short non-fiction films that explore the creative process and the ethics of documentary production.

‘They want to give us thinking’: the role of filmmaking in creating narratives around mobility and land in the Canton of Ambato, Ecuador

It has been argued that the production of transport knowledges has been prone to urban domination and that mainly top-down and technocratic lenses are used. Echoing calls for an epistemological shift to include ‘other ways of knowing’, this article proposes Participatory Action Research Filmmaking as a way to ‘change the lenses’ and amplify narratives of mobility from liminal perspectives. The case used is a film contest in Ambato, Ecuador, entitled: ‘Between the Countryside and the City: stories of rural women’s transport’ that encouraged the participation of women and inhabitants of rural areas, who were assisted in creating a short documentary about their views on, and experiences with, transport. Results show bodies whose mobility is hindered by the burdens they carry but also empowered bodies that have a deep connection with the earth. Questions that arose relate to the extent women have agency in their mobility, to meanings attributed to mobility, and the limited relevance of transport mode when compared to the need to be transported ‘with dignity and autonomy’.

Present perfect cinema and the implicated subject: the utilization of photographs in Ōshima Nagisa’s Diary of Yunbogi

ABSTRACT This article shows how Ōshima Nagisa works in the mode of filmmaking I call present perfect cinema throughout his short documentary film Diary of Yunbogi. Composed entirely of still photographs, this ‘film document’ complicates the singular and static temporality of photography by bringing the Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula into the present, illustrating the ongoing colonization of the peninsula. Remediating the photographs into a film asks the viewer to confront Japanese imperialism in the contemporary moment. I demonstrate how Ōshima’s utilization of still photographs renders him what Michael Rothberg calls an ‘implicated subject.’ Rather than directly identify with the postcolonial subject, Ōshima asserts his solidarity as a citizen of Japan with Korean students. Diary of Yunbogi forges a new form of solidarity, whereby the recent colonizing state of Japan and South Korea are linked by their shared American occupation. The absolute poverty that accentuated South Korea and Japan’s respective postwar environments opens a space for dialogue between two places under the regime of American neocolonialism.

Broadcasting the Life and Death of Victorian Cities: Urban Heritage in Ken Russell's Early BBC Shorts, 1959–61

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the question of how to care for and preserve Victorian urban heritage was an important topic in public debate. At the beginning of his career at the BBC, Ken Russell made four highly original short documentaries that address this issue from several different points of view. John Betjeman: A Poet in London (1959) and Shelagh Delaney's Salford (1960) offered middle-class and working-class perspectives on the large-scale destruction of Victorian buildings to make way for modern planning and high-rises, while A House in Bayswater (1960) and London Moods (1961) further elaborated on points made in the first two films. Considered as a thematic cluster, these four films map how several discourses intersected on the contested site of Victorian urban heritage, not least the different voices of middle-class and working-class stakeholders, both of whom had an interest in preserving aspects of urban architectural heritage, but for widely different reasons. As such, a close reading of these films demonstrates how topical documentaries can become, over the distance of more than half a century, a powerful site for reconstructing and understanding the subtle shadings of past attitudes and old cultural debates.

EXPLORING THE POWER OF DOCUMENTARY FILM TO CHALLENGE DEMENTIA-RELATED STIGMA AND SUPPORT DANCE FOR LIFE ENRICHMENT

Abstract Dance has been shown to support empowerment, sociability, and creative self-expression; however, it is rarely adopted with the explicit intention to support these aspects of engagement in the context of dementia care. Instead, dance is primarily adopted as a form of therapy to improve cognitive and physical health outcomes. This is far too narrow given there is research that demonstrates the power of dance to increase social inclusion by supporting embodied self-expression, creativity, and social engagement of people living with dementia. In order to foster broad community awareness building and education about the value of dance for life enrichment and the importance of supporting this in dementia care settings, we developed a short documentary film – Dancer Not Dementia. To evaluate the impact of the film, we conducted focus groups and/or interviews with people living with dementia, family carers, government policy makers, formal care providers affiliated with long-term and community-based dementia care, members of the dance community, and the general public. Data were collected within one week of watching the film and then again 8-12 weeks later. Our analysis illustrates the effectiveness of Dancer Not Dementia in reducing stigma by demonstrating changes in understandings of dementia and changes in practice. Our analysis also includes attention to how the film, as a form of cultural production, deepened engagement and facilitated transformation. This research contributes to a growing understanding of how the arts may challenge entrenched and oppressive attitudes and social relations, and support more inclusive and relational approaches to caring.

Collective Vision: Analysis of collaborative production practices for short documentaries in India

Film collectives and collaborative production have evolved into potent vehicles of change, con-verging on themes of gender and representation of marginalised groups, allowing communities to introspect and create their own cultural identity. Community produced short documentaries, shift dialogue from national to local regions. Film Collectives produce short documentaries, reinforc-ing modular over conventional. In this study, the researchers aim to examine short documentaries produced through collaborative production approaches at the grassroots level, specifically those serving or created by communities in India. The research places significant emphasis on investi-gating the advancement of social welfare within the local community through these films. Over-all, the language and structure employed in collaborative filmmaking align more closely with tra-ditional documentary practices. The objective of the study is to achieve a thorough comprehension of the importance of community films and to explore their sustainability over the long term. To achieve this goal, the researchers have chosen to analyse four films produced by SPS Media. Through the creation of their films, SPS Media, captures the real-life experiences and obstacles of marginalised communities. Their films serve to bring attention to and facilitate discussions on issues such as poverty, gender inequality, education, healthcare, and sustainable agriculture. Key characteristics of collaborative production are discussed in the paper. The research methodology adopted is qualitative in the nature, with a case study and narrative and textual analysis of short documentaries.

Cinema of Egypt (1927-1970)

Cinema has a distinct originality as an artistic genre due to its mass popularity and ability to reach a wide audience. When "Arab cinema" is considered in the history of cinema, the biggest and most important role in this field belongs to Egyptian cinema.The Egyptian film industry has been and remains the most powerful and influential of its kind in the Arab world. Known for being the only country in the Middle East that produces feature films, Egyptian cinema has been called the "Hollywood of the Arab world". There are different opinions about the beginning date of Egyptian cinema. According to some film historians, the start date is 1896, when the Lumière Brothers' short films were shown in Alexandria; and according to some, it is 1907, the year the first short documentary film of Egyptian cinema was made; according to others, it is the year 1927, the year of production of the first feature-length film, "Leila", directed and scripted by Azîza Amîr, the famous female director and actress of Egyptian cinema. Egyptian cinema, which has become a mirror of Egyptian society by mostly addressing social and economic issues, has sometimes come to the fore with newly written scripts, sometimes with adaptations from films of other countries and sometimes from literary works. Egyptian cinema has gone through important stages until it has reached a level where it can produce directors, screenwriters and actors who have received cinema education, can follow social changes and can express them with a developed artistic language. This study aims to examine the development process of Egyptian cinema, which has an important place and identity in the history of world cinema with its unique style, attitude, language, style and rich vocabulary, from 1927 to the 1970s.

Bringing Back the Joy: A Study of the Short Documentary Film The Last Repair Shop (2023)

This literature research focuses on discussing the conceptualization of joy in American short documentary film entitled The Last Repair Shop (2023). As a feeling that everyone needs in life, the concept of joy needs to be studied. It is also expected that the study can become an additional reference for future research and contribute to increasing understanding of the concept of joy and enriching theory in literary and cultural studies. The study aims at identifying how joy is portrayed and conceptualized through the documentary film. The Primary data for qualitative research is in the form of a collection of statements from actors obtained from documentary short films. This study also utilizes Hall's representation theory to analyze statements from actors to construct the concept of joy portrayed in the documentary film. The results of data analysis and interpretation show that the concept of joy can refer to the power to change a person's life because it can be a source of change or a result obtained from change. In addition, joy as portrayed through the documentary can also beconceptualized as kindness towards oneself and others.

Creative Shared Religious Education with Film-Making and History

This paper discusses the development of an innovative methodology for engaging young people with issues of religious diversity and toleration, through combining engagement with historical and contemporary sources with the production of short documentary films reflecting on their own experience. We report on pilot workshops held in contrasting locations—London, Belfast, Skopje (North Macedonia), Durrës (Albania), and Amman (Jordan). In some of the workshops, participants worked directly with young people from other religious traditions; in others, participants themselves were drawn from a single religious tradition, but sought actively to engage with others, for example Orthodox Christians in North Macedonia spoke to Muslims and filmed inside a mosque; Muslims in Jordan similarly visited local Christians and their churches; Catholics and Protestants in Belfast were eager to understand and interact with the other community. In the light of overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants, the analysis applies contact theory to argue that the methodology facilitates deep learning and teambuilding, enhancing respect and understanding between different religious groups. It also demonstrates the value of religious education for enhancing young people’s understanding of other subjects, notably history and citizenship.

Refining English tutors' skills: Documentary films as pre-teaching reference

Training spoken English tutors requires a variety of resources, including audio-visual references. However, popular social media tutorials often focus on teaching specific English materials, neglecting broader teaching techniques. Ideal tutors need a positive and engaging personality, knowledge transfer strategies, adaptable approaches to classroom conditions, meticulous preparation, and effective wrap-up activities - elements that are missing from most tutorial videos. This study investigates the potential of short documentary films as a reference for teaching techniques for 13 prospective tutors in an intermediate English class. Through an integrated mentoring program for the production of short documentaries, the study explores, describes and addresses the challenges of teaching preparation through observation, interviews and literature review. It also analyzes the potential of documentaries to support teaching and formulates criteria for effective documentary content relevant to teacher preparation. The findings suggest that integrating documentary film production into the English language teaching curriculum can equip tutors with the necessary skills for successful micro-teaching experiences. This approach allows tutors to create personalized short documentaries that serve as a reference for teaching techniques tailored to their specific pre-teaching needs. Tutors gain a deeper understanding and ability to demonstrate not only teaching techniques, but also classroom management elements such as preparation, wrap-up activities, brainstorming and teaching approaches.

Short Documentary Film, Urban Art, and Local Memory

This article explores the interplay between public spaces, urban art, identity, and local memory, engaging with new audiovisual formats such as the micro-documentary within the Lira Arte Público audiovisual project. The primary aim of this study is to delve into the themes, spaces, and dialogues that interconnect the city, urban art, and micro-documentaries. Employing a mixed-methods approach that integrates qualitative and quantitative tools, complemented by an analytical-synthetic framework and a narratological perspective, the research analyses the documentary series ‘Muros con Historia-Edición Barrio Arte’. This series consists of six short documentaries, each ranging from four to five minutes in length. The findings elucidate the dual functionality of the series: firstly, as a documentary record enhancing the visibility of the artistic process; and secondly, as a platform for the testimony and affirmation of the identities of the collectives inhabiting the spaces transformed by the mural projects. The study conclusively identifies and discusses how audiovisual language, through both content and form, constructs and conveys the characteristics of the city, mural art, and the Latin American identity of the involved artists.

The effects of an educational intervention on reducing stigma among medical students toward patients with psychiatric disorders

BackgroundStigma surrounding psychiatric disorders persists among medical students, who represent the future of healthcare provision. The reluctance of these students to engage with patients with psychiatric conditions poses challenges in delivering appropriate healthcare services. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of an educational package on reducing stigma and altering attitudes toward patients with mental illnesses among medical students.MethodsThis interventional and quasi-experimental study enrolled medical students who entered in a 4-week clinical post in psychiatry wards from September 2021 to February 2022. Each group of students was randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. All students in the two groups underwent practical training in psychiatry wards. An anti-stigma educational package was provided for the students in the intervention group. This package consisted of three components, including a one-hour virtual training session titled “Stigma, its importance, and coping strategies”, watching three short documentary films on the experiences of successfully treated patients with mental illness, and writing a reflection after a face-to-face interview with a hospitalized patient. The Attitudes Toward Mental Illness (ATMI) questionnaire was used to evaluate the attitudes of all students at the end of the rotation. Additionally, content analysis was performed on the reflection writings of the intervention group.ResultsThe intervention group (n = 142) and control group (n = 92) showed slight changes in ATMI. The effect sizes were small. Both the intervention and control groups demonstrated significant improvements in attitudes toward the treatment of mental illness. Content analysis of reflection writings highlighted increased awareness, empathy, and medical students’ need for more educational content on the significance of stigma and how to address it.ConclusionsThe educational intervention did not significantly impact medical students’ attitudes toward patients with psychiatric disorders; however, the standard clinical training and exposure to psychiatric patients may be sufficient to enhance students’ perspectives on the treatability of mental illness. Writing a reflection regarding face-to-face exposure with a patient with mental illness may increase awareness and empathy in medical students. Further investigation is needed to assess the long-term effects of reflection on medical students’ behavior.

Dangerous remembering in volatile spaces: Activist memory work in the Iranian context

This article studies the interrelations of memory work and activism in the Iranian context by focusing on the way remembering victims of state violence informs political activism. Due to constant repression, the recurrence of state violence and the criminalisation of oppositional activities and non-conforming lifestyles, the Iranian context is saturated with contentious memories that cannot be brought into public space. Oppositional memory work, especially regarding the victims of direct state violence, has thus become dangerous, counts as defiance and requires alternative spaces for taking shape. This article maps out and explains how activist memory work in this context entails carving out activist memoryscapes and intertwines personal suffering with acts of remembering the other and how memory is used as a resource in broader modes of oppositional politics, justice-seeking and endeavours towards social change. Examples of activist memory work in the Woman, Life, Freedom protests, a short documentary film and a commemorative exhibition are analysed in the article to showcase the different mnemonic dynamics at stake and to highlight the importance of mediation and cultural forms in the formation of activist memory work.

A Knot Fit to Be Untied: A Collective Contrarian ‘We’ in Today’s Mediterranean

This essay analyses two short documentaries, both produced in 2014 (just one year before the publication of Erri De Luca’s La parola contraria), which focus on Lampedusa and its surrounding waters: the documentary Liquid Traces: The Left-to-Die Boat Case, directed by the geographers Charles Heller and Lorenzo Pezzani, and LampeduSani, a TV film born out of the collaboration between the Italian writer Erri De Luca and the Sicilian director Costanza Quatriglio. The two movies will be considered as forms of contrarian speech (‘parola contraria’). The essay shows the challenges faced whenever we are engaged in creating a collective contrarian ‘we’.

Editor’s Introduction

This ‘Editor’s introduction’ notes the interviews and articles published in issue 14.2, all of which address the featured theme: LGBTQ+ films and filmmakers. The interview with Jenni Olson considers her long, multi-hyphenate career in queer cinema as a filmmaker, historian and archivist. The interview with Goran Stolevski focuses on his two award-winning fiction shorts, You Deserve Everything (2015) and Would You Look at Her (2017). The research articles focus on the following: Jenni Olson’s experimental short, Blue Diary; influential post-war avant-garde filmmaker Gregory Markopoulos’s Flowers of Asphalt; the two obscenity trials brought against exhibitors who screened Kenneth Anger’s short films, Fireworks (1947) and Scorpio Rising (1963); the racial and sexual politics of two Canadian shorts, Afronautic Research Lab: Newfoundland (2019) and Welcome to Africville (1999); a short documentary, Playback, that uses archival footage from the late 1980s of a queer nightclub community in Argentina; and the punk avant-garde short filmmaker, Australian Kim Miles.

Activating dissident memories: Video as a tool for resistance in Agustina Comedi’s Playback

This article examines how the short documentary Playback: Ensayo de una despedida repurposes archival videos of the underground queer scene in Argentina’s nascent democracy in the late 1980s. Video is used as a tool for documenting queer histories, resisting erasure and reimagining the past. By blending archival footage with fictional elements, I argue that Playback highlights the affective dimensions of queer memory and the power of friendship in sustaining emotional truths and also demonstrates how video archives can be mobilized for resistance and resilience.

Persepolis, 1960-1971: Material Culture, State Ideology, and Melancholic Contemplation on National Identity

The ruins of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (559–330 BCE), are celebrated as a cultural heritage site and national monument in Iran. In 1971, these ruins became the setting for the Celebration of the 2,500th Anniversary of the Founding of the Persian Empire, orchestrated by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The Pahlavi regime aimed to fabricate a monarchical lineage that positioned the Pahlavi dynasty as the pinnacle of an uninterrupted historical continuum beginning with the Achaemenids and Cyrus the Great. The ceremonies featured a grandiose military parade with soldiers in historical costumes symbolically reenacting theprocessions of foreign emissaries depicted on Persepolis' walls, emphasizing the glory and grandeur of Iran's imperial past and its uninterrupted history. Conversely, a decade earlier, Iranian filmmaker and poet Fereydoun Rahnema's short documentary captured Persepolis in a starkly different light, presenting it as enigmatic ruins devoid of grandeur, prompting reflections on their lost original meaning. Utilizing Walter Benjamin's concepts of natural history, melancholia, and allegory, this article explores the allegorical implications of Rahnema's film. It argues that the documentary signifies the disintegration of the sublime image of Iran’s imperial origin, marking a shift where the imperial past becomes too eclipsed a signifier to serve as a cornerstone of national identity.