Synopses & Reviews
In this pioneering volume, Robert Skloot brings together four plays—three of which are published here for the first time—that fearlessly explore the face of modern genocide. The scripts deal with the destruction of four targeted populations: Armenians in Lorne Shirinian’s Exile in the Cradle, Cambodians in Catherine Filloux’s Silence of God, Bosnian Muslims in Kitty Felde’s A Patch of Earth, and Rwandan Tutsis in Erik Ehn’s Maria Kizito. Taken together, these four plays erase the boundaries of theatrical realism to present stories that probe the actions of the perpetrators and the suffering of their victims. A major artistic contribution to the study of the history and effects of genocide, this collection carries on the important journey toward understanding the terror and trauma to which the modern world has so often been witness.
Review
andldquo;Groundbreaking and consistently engaging, Film and Genocide may become a classic. It explores a wide range of films and archival sources and features memorable interviews with filmmakers.andrdquo;andmdash;Adam Jones, author of Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction
Review
andldquo;With great sensitivity, these essays explore the aesthetic and ethical dilemmas in representing genocide, as they examine representations of genocide across history, geography, and culture, and across fictional and documentary cinema.andrdquo;andmdash;David Desser, coauthor of American-Jewish Filmmakers
Review
andldquo;
Film and Genocide makes a valuable contribution to a new and important field of research, which takes a comparative approach not just to the history of genocide but also to its representation.andrdquo;andmdash;
H-Net ReviewsSynopsis
Film and Genocide brings together scholars of film and of genocide to discuss film representations, both fictional and documentary, of the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, and genocides in Chile, Australia, Rwanda, and the United States. Since 1955, when Alain Resnais created his experimental documentary Night and Fog about the Nazisandrsquo; mass killings of Jews and other ostracized groups, filmmakers have struggled with using this medium to tell such difficult stories, to re-create the sociopolitical contexts of genocide, and to urge awareness and action among viewers. This volume looks at such issues as realism versus fiction, the challenge of depicting atrocities in a manner palatable to spectators and film distributors, the Holocaust film as a model for films about other genocides, and the role of new technologies in disseminating films about genocide.
and#160;and#160;and#160; Film and Genocide also includes interviews with three film directors, who discuss their experiences in working with deeply disturbing images and bringing hidden stories to life: Irek Dobrowolski, director of The Portraitist (2005) a documentary about Wilhelm Brasse, an Auschwitz-Birkenau prisoner ordered to take more than 40,000 photos at the camp; Nick Hughes, director of 100 Days (2005) a dramatic film about the Rwandan mass killings; and Greg Barker, director of Ghosts of Rwanda (2004), a television documentary for Frontline.
About the Author
“Wisely chosen and thoughtfully introduced, Robert Skloot's collection of genocide-related drama brings its significant light and insight to bear on some of the darkest times in recent history. Teaching and warning those who enter, The Theatre of Genocide stages, invites, and encourages action that resists atrocity.”—John K. Roth, director of the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights at Claremont McKenna College“With the world in a blaze of war, The Theatre of Genocide is all too timely. The compelling, evocative plays Robert Skloot has chosen move from the Armenian genocide, which preceded the Holocaust, to the more recent horrors of Cambodia, Bosnia, and Rwanda. Readers, educators, and theatre practitioners alike should find inspiration in this volume which serves as a warning against moral complacency and a call to meaningful action.”—Barbara W. Grossman, Tufts University, former Presidential appointee to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council
Table of Contents
Prefaceand#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160; Kristi M. Wilson and Tomandaacute;s F. Crowder-Taraborrelli
Introductionand#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160; Kristi M. Wilson and Tomandaacute;s F. Crowder-Taraborrelli
Part I: Atrocities, Spectatorship, and Memory
1 Film and Atrocity: The Holocaust as Spectacleand#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160; Sophia Wood
2 Documenting Atrocity in Orson Welles's The Strangerand#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160; Jennifer Barker
3 Remembering Revolution after Ruin and Genocide: On Recent Chilean Documentary Films and the Writing of Historyand#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160; Michael J. Lazzara
4 andquot;The Power to Imagineandquot;: Genocide, Exile, and Ethical Memory in Atom Egoyan's Araratand#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160; Georgiana Banita
Part II: Coloniality and Postcoloniality
5 Massacre and the Movies: Soldier Blue and the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160; Paul R. Bartrop
6 The Other in Genocide: Responsibility and Benevolence in Rabbit Proof Fenceand#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160; Donna-Lee Frieze
7 Genres of andquot;Yet an Other Genocideandquot;: Cinematic Representations of Rwandaand#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160; Madelaine Hron
Part III: Visual Documentation and Genocide
8 The Specter of Genocide in Errol Morris's The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamaraand#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160; Kristi M. Wilson
9 GIs Documenting Genocide: Amateur Films of World War II Concentration Campsand#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160; Marsha Orgeron
10 Through the Open Society Archives to The Portraitist: Film's Impulse Toward Death and Witnessand#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160; Stephen Cooper
Part IV: Interviews
11 Greg Barker, director of Ghosts of Rwanda (2004)and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160; Interviewed by Richard O'Connell
12 Nick Hughes, director of 100 Days (2001)and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160; Interviewed by Piotr A. Cieplak
13 Irek Dobrowolski, director of The Portraitist (2005)and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160; Interviewed by Stephen Cooper
Filmographyand#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
Bibliographyand#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
Contributorsand#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160;
Index