Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture Spring semester 2010 Lecturer: Maša Hilčišin Human Rights Issues in Documentary Cinema Concepts and definitions of Human Rights ¡ The Twelve Articles of the Black Forest (1525) are considered to be first record of human rights in Europe ¡ The term human rights came into use in Wiliam Lloyd Garrison’s ‘The Liberator’ (1831) ¡ Establishment of International Committee of the Red Cross and Geneva Conventions in laid the foundations of humanitarian law (1864) ¡ Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted (1948) Concepts and definitions of Human Rights ¡ Integrity rights, political and civil rights, and social, economical, and cultural rights ¡ Universalism and cultural relativism Human Rights Documentary Films ¡ Human rights are films that reflect the actual state of human rights violations, or the visions and aspirations as to the ways to redress those violations ¡ Primary condition of HR films: Being Truthful and Understandable Human Rights Documentary Films ¡ Genocidal armies. Fascist gangs. Concentration camps. Dithering statesmen. Refugee throngs. Closed borders. Besieged cities...New Europe: What New Europe? Same old, I’d say. – Robert Hunter ¡ Communication intended to convey the truth must first of all correspond to the facts – Jürgen Habermas ¡ The effect of ‘shocking’ pictures is very hard to predict and varies greatly with individual, societal and cultural characteristics – Susan Sontag Human Rights Documentary Films ¡ The Battle of the Somme – Geoffrey Malins and John B. McDowell (1916) ¡ documented the British Army’s preparation for the battle ¡ the single bloodiest day in British Army history ¡ some of the most iconic images during entire war Human Rights Documentary Films Human Rights Documentary Films Human Rights Documentary Films ¡ Spanish Earth – Joris Ivens (1937) ¡ illustration of background to and causes of the Civil War ¡ around 500,000 people killed, executed, or displaced ¡ narrated by John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway Human Rights Documentary Films ¡ Night and Fog (Nuit et brouillard) – Alain Resnais (1955) ¡ among the first documentaries about Nazi concentration camps –Auschwitz, Birkenau, Majdanek, Struthof, and Mathausen ¡ made in collaboration by two survivors of the Holocaust including writer Jean Cayrol and composer Hanns Eisler ¡ film censored by French and Germans Human Rights Documentary Films ¡ The Hour of the Furnaces (La Hora de los Hornos) – Octavio Getino and Fernando E. Solanas (1968) ¡ epic documentary and scathing indictment of imperialist capitalism in Argentina ¡ in some critics represented as film on social genocide in Argentina ¡ The first embodiment of a self-declared ‘Third Cinema’ that would put the politics of production, distribution and presentation ahead of ‘mere’ aesthetics Human Rights Documentary Films ¡ A Grin without a Cat – Chris Marker (1974) ¡ newsreel footage, television clips, television news reports, found footage, and sarcastic commentary, the rise and the fall of the New Left movement of post-colonial struggle ¡ documentary had its first incarnation in 1977, which director later re-cut in 1993 after the fall of the USSR, and then again in 2008 ¡ three-hour opus Human Rights Documentary Films ¡ Abortion Access (1990) & Motherhood by Choice (2000) – Dorothy Fadiman ¡ history of the struggle for women’s reproductive rights in the U.S. ¡ director widely discussed about women’s rights on abortion, interviewing women, including her own experience Human Rights Documentary Films ¡ Warrior Marks – Alice Walker and Pratibha Parmar (1993) ¡ political documentary about female genital mutilation (FGM) ¡ interviews with women from Senegal, Gambia, Burkina Faso, the United States, and England who are concerned with and affected by genital mutilation ¡ according to the Amnesty International, as estimated 135 million girls and women have undergone genital mutilation which is predominantly practiced in North-African countries Human Rights Documentary Films Human Rights Documentary Films ¡ Shoah – Claude Lanzmann (1985) ¡ nine-hour documentary about the Holocaust ¡ consists of interviews with people who were involved in various ways in the Holocaust , concerning four topics: Chelmno, camps Treblinka and Auschwitz-Birkenau, and the Warsaw Ghetto Human Rights Documentary Films ¡ Blood in the Face – Anne Bohlen, Kevin Rafferty, and James Ridgeway (1991) ¡ documentary about various white supremacy groups in the U.S., largely shot in Michigan ¡ film contains interviews shooted during one single day in the collective life of American neo-Nazis, racists, and other radical right groups Human Rights Documentary Films Human Rights Issues in Documentary Cinema Masaryk University: Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture Winter semester 2010 Lecturer: Maša Hilčišin Thank you for your attention!