Visible Evidence XXVII - Documentary and Democracy in Crisis
What we call documentary today emerged in the 1920s and 1930s in response to a perceived crisis of liberal democracy, as a mode of factual representation which empowers citizens to participate in the political process. But how does documentary respond to what has been widely diagnosed as the current crisis of democracy? How does documentary react to the return to nationalism and other forms of political tribalism in the face of global migration? How does documentary shape our perceptions of the consequences of globalization, from climate change to the transformation of the economy? And how can documentary in theory and practice contribute to defend the space and modes of deliberation necessary for the life of democracy?
Visible Evidence, the international conference on documentary film and media, now in its 27th year, will convene in Frankfurt, Germany, on December 16-19, 2020. Hosted by the Institute for Theatre, Film and Media Studies (TFM) at Goethe University, Frankfurt, Visible Evidence XXVII will address these and other current issues related to the history, theory, practice and pedagogy of documentary and non-fiction cinema, television, video, audio recording, digital media, photography, VR, games and performance in a wide range of panels, workshops, plenary sessions, screenings and special events. We welcome panel, workshop, screening and paper proposals that address documentary and non-fiction media from a diverse range of disciplines that open the field to new lines of investigation through innovative and original perspectives.