Project description
Perpetrators’ testimonies versus film directors’ ethics
A growing number of documentary films examine crimes against humanity from the perpetrators’ perspective. Many feature interviews with perpetrators and are directed by victims. Despite the growing interest in the films, relatively little is known about the representation of perpetrators in academic literature. In this context, the EU-funded PERPREP project will study documentary filmmakers’ political and ethical narrative strategies of representing genocidal perpetrators. Using narratology to analyse directors’ depiction of perpetrators, the focus will be on four genocides: the Holocaust, the 1965-1966 Indonesian massacres, the Cambodian genocide, and the genocide of the Tutsi. The findings will shed light on how documentary filmmakers reframe the perpetrators’ self-deceptions to undermine the perpetrators’ accounts of history.
Objective
I intend to investigate the representation of genocidal perpetrators in documentaries from a narratological perspective. There is a large corpus of documentaries representing perpetrators. Many feature in-depth interviews with perpetrators and are directed by victims, who in some cases spent several years filming perpetrators. Yet despite this remarkable corpus of films, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the representation of perpetrators in academic literature. ‘Representing Perpetration’ will investigate documentary filmmakers’ political and ethical narrative strategies of representing genocidal perpetrators across four different genocides: The Holocaust, the 1965–1966 Indonesian massacres, the Cambodian genocide, and the genocide of the Tutsi. I will examine the ways in which documentary filmmakers reframe the perpetrators’ self-deceptions and seek to undermine (successfully or not) the perpetrators’ accounts of history. In so doing, many of these documentary filmmakers manage to wrestle testimonies of atrocities from those most invested in concealing them. Methodologically, I will use narratology to systematically analyse directors’ depiction of genocidal perpetrators. This approach is particularly suitable to investigate the double role these documentaries play in providing an evidentiary record of perpetrators’ testimonies but also in shaping the historical narrative in accordance with the directors’ ethics.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities philosophy, ethics and religion philosophy metaphysics teleology
- social sciences law human rights human rights violations
- humanities history and archaeology history modern history
- humanities arts modern and contemporary art cinematography
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1165 KOBENHAVN
Denmark
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.