{"product_id":"9780231195973-filming-history-from-below","title":"Filming History from Below","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMicrohistorical Documentaries\u003cbr\u003eIn recent decades, a type of historical documentary has emerged that focuses on tightly circumscribed subjects, personal archives, and first-person perspectives. Efrén Cuevas categorizes these films as “microhistorical documentaries” and examines how they push cinema’s capacity as a producer of historical knowledge in new directions.\u003cbr\u003eTraditional historical documentaries strive to project a sense of objectivity, producing a top-down view of history that focuses on public events and personalities. In recent decades, in line with historiographical trends advocating “history from below,” a different type of historical documentary has emerged, focusing on tightly circumscribed subjects, personal archives, and first-person perspectives. Efrén Cuevas categorizes these films as “microhistorical documentaries” and examines how they push cinema’s capacity as a producer of historical knowledge in new directions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCuevas pinpoints the key features of these documentaries, identifying their parallels with written microhistory: a reduced scale of observation, a central role given to human agency, a conjectural approach to the use of archival sources, and a reliance on narrative structures. Microhistorical documentaries also use tools specific to film to underscore the affective dimension of historical narratives, often incorporating autobiographical and essayistic perspectives, and highlighting the role of the protagonists’ personal memories in the reconstruction of the past. These films generally draw from family archives, with an emphasis on snapshots and home movies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFilming History from Below\u003c\/i\u003e examines works including Péter Forgács’s films dealing with the Holocaust such as \u003ci\u003eThe Maelstrom\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFree Fall\u003c\/i\u003e; documentaries about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Rithy Panh’s work on the Cambodian genocide; films about the internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War such as \u003ci\u003eA Family Gathering\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHistory and Memory\u003c\/i\u003e; and Jonas Mekas’s chronicle of migration in his diary film \u003ci\u003eLost, Lost, Lost\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56451348267382,"sku":"9780231195973","price":24.16,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_30562269.jpg?v=1760462045","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9780231195973-filming-history-from-below","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}