Images of Unrest
Documentary Film and Political Violence
Published on 30. April 2026
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-1-3995-5712-2 (ISBN)
Description
This book studies the relation between documentary film and political violence, treating images not as representations, but as original experiences that are a part of a reality that they both present and shape.
???????Whereas documentary film scholarship has often been preoccupied with questions of the referentiality and representation, Images of Unrest: Documentary Film and Political Violence prioritises the question of what images do. The volume argues that this approach, far from being an abnegation of our responsibility towards the real, heightens the ethical stakes of documentary filmmaking and filmviewing, reminding us that we are always in and of the real.
???????Whereas documentary film scholarship has often been preoccupied with questions of the referentiality and representation, Images of Unrest: Documentary Film and Political Violence prioritises the question of what images do. The volume argues that this approach, far from being an abnegation of our responsibility towards the real, heightens the ethical stakes of documentary filmmaking and filmviewing, reminding us that we are always in and of the real.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
14 colour images
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
490 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-3995-5712-2 (9781399557122)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Nikolaj Luebecker is Professor of French and Film Studies at The University of Oxford. His previous publications include Twenty-First-Century Symbolism: Verlaine, Baudelaire, Mallarme (2022), James Benning's Environments (co-edited with Daniele Rugo, 2019) and The Feel-Bad Film (2015). Daniele Rugo is Professor of Film at Brunel, University of London and an award-winning filmmaker. He has held visiting positions at University of Oxford, LSE and Sciences Po.
Content
List of Illustrations
Introduction: The Nonrepresentational Documentary
1. What We Observe Is Not Reality Itself: Post-Verite and Action Documentaries
2. The Poetics of Found Footage Filmmaking
3. Landscape Forensics: Sensing Violence in Empty Places
4. Missing Pictures: Reenactment, Trauma and Creation
5. Recoding Operational Images
Conclusion: Finding Beauty Amid Disaster
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index
Introduction: The Nonrepresentational Documentary
1. What We Observe Is Not Reality Itself: Post-Verite and Action Documentaries
2. The Poetics of Found Footage Filmmaking
3. Landscape Forensics: Sensing Violence in Empty Places
4. Missing Pictures: Reenactment, Trauma and Creation
5. Recoding Operational Images
Conclusion: Finding Beauty Amid Disaster
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index