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Digitally Enabled Engagement and Witnessing: The Sichuan Earthquake on Independent Documentary film

Svensson, Marina LU (2017) In Studies in Documentary Film 11(3). p.200-216
Abstract
This article builds on recent works on witnessing, socially engaged documentary filmmaking and studies on the role of new digital technologies for witnessing trauma, recording memories and enabling activism. In a devastating earthquake in Sichuan province on 12 May 2008, almost 90,000 people, at least 5000 of them being children, died. Parents and bystanders provided the first footage of the earthquake, recorded in shaky images on their mobile phones and camcorders, and many later continued to document the destruction and their search for justice, which hailed the beginning of citizen camera witnessing in China. A range of Chinese filmmakers documented the disaster and its aftermath in full-length films, and in doing so helped the victims... (More)
This article builds on recent works on witnessing, socially engaged documentary filmmaking and studies on the role of new digital technologies for witnessing trauma, recording memories and enabling activism. In a devastating earthquake in Sichuan province on 12 May 2008, almost 90,000 people, at least 5000 of them being children, died. Parents and bystanders provided the first footage of the earthquake, recorded in shaky images on their mobile phones and camcorders, and many later continued to document the destruction and their search for justice, which hailed the beginning of citizen camera witnessing in China. A range of Chinese filmmakers documented the disaster and its aftermath in full-length films, and in doing so helped the victims bear witness to their trauma and fight for justice that was unacknowledged in the traditional media. At least 16 independent documentary films have to date been made dealing with the earthquake in different ways. The films fall into different types, ranging from poetic, observational, expository, participatory and performative, and they also reveal different forms of witnessing practices. The article addresses the witnessing practices of ordinary citizens, enabled by new digital technologies, and analyses a selection of the documentary films with respect to their genre and modes of witnessing. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
documentary film, digital technologies, Internet, China, earthquake, activism, witnessing, Asian studies
in
Studies in Documentary Film
volume
11
issue
3
pages
17 pages
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:85021083468
ISSN
1750-3299
DOI
10.1080/17503280.2017.1338370
project
Digital China
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b64f2d33-3b7d-4e99-892d-7d5bbac15218
date added to LUP
2017-05-25 13:59:14
date last changed
2022-04-17 02:04:48
@article{b64f2d33-3b7d-4e99-892d-7d5bbac15218,
  abstract     = {{This article builds on recent works on witnessing, socially engaged documentary filmmaking and studies on the role of new digital technologies for witnessing trauma, recording memories and enabling activism. In a devastating earthquake in Sichuan province on 12 May 2008, almost 90,000 people, at least 5000 of them being children, died. Parents and bystanders provided the first footage of the earthquake, recorded in shaky images on their mobile phones and camcorders, and many later continued to document the destruction and their search for justice, which hailed the beginning of citizen camera witnessing in China. A range of Chinese filmmakers documented the disaster and its aftermath in full-length films, and in doing so helped the victims bear witness to their trauma and fight for justice that was unacknowledged in the traditional media. At least 16 independent documentary films have to date been made dealing with the earthquake in different ways. The films fall into different types, ranging from poetic, observational, expository, participatory and performative, and they also reveal different forms of witnessing practices. The article addresses the witnessing practices of ordinary citizens, enabled by new digital technologies, and analyses a selection of the documentary films with respect to their genre and modes of witnessing.}},
  author       = {{Svensson, Marina}},
  issn         = {{1750-3299}},
  keywords     = {{documentary film; digital technologies; Internet; China; earthquake; activism; witnessing; Asian studies}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{200--216}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Studies in Documentary Film}},
  title        = {{Digitally Enabled Engagement and Witnessing: The Sichuan Earthquake on Independent Documentary film}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17503280.2017.1338370}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/17503280.2017.1338370}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}