Books in French are on www.livres-cinema.info
Political Camerawork
Documentary and the Lasting Impact of Reenacting Historical Trauma
by D. Andy Rice
(0 vote)Average rating:
| 0 | rating |  = We can do without |
| 0 | rating |  = Good book |
| 0 | rating |  = Excellent book |
| 0 | rating |  = Unique / a reference |
Your rating: -
Book Presentation:
What mental and physical distress do actors, camerapersons, and reporters experience when working on reenactments of traumatic moments in history?
In Political Camerawork, D. Andy Rice theorizes that the intense feelings produced while creating these performed scenarios, called "simulation documentaries," connect difficult pasts to the present. Building on his background as a nonfiction film director, producer, editor, and cinematographer, Rice analyzes performance techniques to gain insight into the emotional toll of simulation documentaries, including those reliving the Vietnam War, the US military's embodied training in California during the Iraq War, and an annual quadruple lynching reenactment organized by Black civil rights activists in Georgia.
Investigating the lasting impact of these productions, Political Camerawork reveals that, by performing a simulation of a traumatic event they didn't directly experience, those involved become carriers of the trauma.
About the Author:
D. Andy Rice is Assistant Professor of Film Studies and Media and Communication in the Department of Media, Journalism & Film at Miami University in Ohio. He has written for venues including the Journal of Film and Video, JumpCut, The Scholar and Feminist Online, and Senses of Cinema. He also co-produced, shot, and edited the award-winning historical documentary Spirits of Rebellion: Black Independent Cinema from Los Angeles on the LA Rebellion film movement.
Press Reviews:
"An innovative contribution to media studies that explores the embodied experiences of both performers and camerapersons filming war reenactments, military training simulations, and an annual lynching reenactment."
-Wendy Kozol, author of Distant Wars Visible: The Ambivalence of Witnessing
"A unique take on the ways in which cultural memories are produced and expressed."
-Patricia Davis, author of Laying Claim: African American Cultural Memory and Southern Identity
See the publisher website: Indiana University Press
> On a related topic:
Filming History from Below (2022)
Microhistorical Documentaries
by Efrén Cuevas
Subject: Genre > Documentary
Story Movements (2020)
How Documentaries Empower People and Inspire Social Change
Subject: Genre > Documentary
Challenge for Change (2010)
Activist Documentary at the National Film Board of Canada
by Thomas Waugh, Michael Brendan Baker, Ezra Winton and Michael Brendan Baker
Subject: Genre > Documentary
Holocaust Representations in Animated Documentaries (2025)
The Contours of Commemoration
Subject: Genre > Historical films
The Interactive Documentary Form (2025)
Aesthetics, Practice and Research
Subject: Genre > Documentary
The Oxford Handbook of American Documentary (2025)
Dir. Joshua Glick and Patricia Aufderheide
Subject: Genre > Documentary
Between Reality and Documentary (2025)
A Historical Representation of Gaza Refugees in Colonial, Humanitarian and Palestinian Documentary Film
Subject: Genre > Documentary
The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration on Film and Television, Volume 2 (2025)
Scott and Amundsen
by John Atkins
Subject: Genre > Documentary
Back
