Chop Shop and Foreign Parts settle on the fuzzy boundary between fiction and documentary: new representations of New York City in Contemporary Cinema

Capturing reality has been a constant aim of different movements throughout the history of the cinema. Historically, this challenge has been taken up by makers of both documentaries and fiction, through hybrid proposals that blended strategies from both fields. Even though these proposals have been ignored by traditional film historians, they constitute a persistent tendency from the cinema s earliest times, as Rhodes and Springer pointed out in their book Docufictions: Essay on the intersection of documentary and fictional filmmaking (2006). There are good examples of these proposals in contemporary cinema that have even won awards at leading international film festivals, including the two movies referred to in this paper: the fictional Chop Shop made by Ramin Bahrani in 2007 and the documentary Foreign Parts by Verena Paravel and J.P. Sniadecki in 2010. Both movies try to portray the same reality in the form of the little known Willets Point (Queens, New York City). Both films aim to show the truth behind the reality portrayed by its inhabitants in real life situations. The main goal of this paper is to reveal their manner of doing this and to show how both movies, even though belonging to different genres, share the same strategies to such an extent that their images could be interchangeable.Canet Centellas, FJ. (2013). Chop Shop and Foreign Parts settle on the fuzzy boundary between fiction and documentary: new representations of New York City in Contemporary Cinema. CINEJ Cinema Journal. 2(2):39-50. doi:10.5195/cinej.2013.68 | http://cinej.pitt.eduS39502

Documenting atrocities around the world: Why engage with the perpetrators?

[EN] Following a century filled with violations of human rights, a significant number of documentary films have appeared since the first decade of the current century that report these events. Traditionally this process is carried out from the victims' point of view. However, a new tendency has emerged in which the films deal with the perpetrators' perspective. It is easy to understand how establishing a relationship with a person who has committed atrocities may be problematic. So, why should we engage with perpetrators? The overarching purpose of this article is to attempt to offer some answers to this question. To this end, two methodological approaches are carried out in parallel: first, this article explores a sample of five documentary films and the filmmakers' considerations of what their engagement with the perpetrators was like. Second, this article reviews the related literature and the controversial reception of these films by some scholars. In doing so, I also posit a theory that 4Rs (remembrance, recognition, remorse, and redemption) are a necessary prerequisite for the fifth R, of reconciliation. The final elaboration of this schema is mainly based on an example of interpersonal reconciliation.This research has been carried out at University of Kent (UK) thanks to a mobility grant financed by the Spanish government.Canet Centellas, FJ. (2019). Documenting atrocities around the world: Why engage with the perpetrators?. International Journal of Cultural Studies. 22(6):804-822. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877919840042S804822226Austin, T. (2011). Standard Operating Procedure, «the mystery of photography» and the politics of pity. Screen, 52(3), 342-357. doi:10.1093/screen/hjr021Bandura, A. (1999). Moral Disengagement in the Perpetration of Inhumanities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3(3), 193-209. doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0303_3BARCUS, R. A., & BERNSTEIN, B. G. (1997). Victim-Perpetrator Reconciliation. Violence Against Women, 3(5), 515-532. doi:10.1177/1077801297003005005Bar-Siman-Tov, Y. (2004). Introduction: Why Reconciliation? From Conflict Resolution to Reconciliation, 3-10. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195166439.003.0001Bies, R. J., & Tripp, T. M. (s. f.). Beyond Distrust: «Getting Even» and the Need for Revenge. Trust in Organizations: Frontiers of Theory and Research, 246-260. doi:10.4135/9781452243610.n12Borer, T. A. (2003). A Taxonomy of Victims and Perpetrators: Human Rights and Reconciliation in South Africa. Human Rights Quarterly, 25(4), 1088-1116. doi:10.1353/hrq.2003.0039Crichlow, W. (2013). «It’s All About Finding the Right Excuse» in Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing. Film Quarterly, 67(2), 37-43. doi:10.1525/fq.2014.67.2.37Crownshaw, R. (2011). Perpetrator Fictions and Transcultural Memory. Parallax, 17(4), 75-89. doi:10.1080/13534645.2011.605582Darby, B. W., & Schlenker, B. R. (1982). Children’s reactions to apologies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43(4), 742-753. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.43.4.742Dunnage, J. (2010). Perpetrator memory and memories about perpetrators. Memory Studies, 3(2), 91-94. doi:10.1177/1750698009355672Elizur, Y., & Yishay-Krien, N. (2009). Participation in Atrocities Among Israeli Soldiers During the First Intifada: A Qualitative Analysis. Journal of Peace Research, 46(2), 251-267. doi:10.1177/0022343308100718Jansen, S. (2013). If Reconciliation Is the Answer, Are We Asking the Right Questions? Studies in Social Justice, 7(2), 229-243. doi:10.26522/ssj.v7i2.1045Mann, M. (2000). Were the Perpetrators of Genocide «Ordinary Men» or «Real Nazis»? Results from Fifteen Hundred Biographies. Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 14(3), 331-366. doi:10.1093/hgs/14.3.331Morag, R. (2012). Perpetrator Trauma and Current Israeli Documentary Cinema. Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies, 27(2), 93-133. doi:10.1215/02705346-1597222Morag, R. (2013). Waltzing with Bashir. doi:10.5040/9780755693931Nichols, B. (2013). Irony, Cruelty, Evil (and a Wink) in The Act of Killing. Film Quarterly, 67(2), 25-29. doi:10.1525/fq.2014.67.2.25Ohbuchi, K., Kameda, M., & Agarie, N. (1989). Apology as aggression control: Its role in mediating appraisal of and response to harm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(2), 219-227. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.56.2.219Pettitt, J. (2017). Perpetrators in Holocaust Narratives. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-52575-4Rouhana, N. N. (2004). Group identity and power asymmetry in reconciliation processes: The Israeli-Palestinian case. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 10(1), 33-52. doi:10.1207/s15327949pac1001_3Schaap, A. (2004). Political Reconciliation. doi:10.4324/9780203002773Schliesser, C. (2017). The Politics of Reconciliation in Post-genocide Rwanda. Alternative Approaches in Conflict Resolution, 137-146. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-58359-4_13Shnabel, N., & Nadler, A. (2008). A needs-based model of reconciliation: Satisfying the differential emotional needs of victim and perpetrator as a key to promoting reconciliation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(1), 116-132. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.94.1.116Staub, E. (2000). Genocide and Mass Killing: Origins, Prevention, Healing and Reconciliation. Political Psychology, 21(2), 367-382. doi:10.1111/0162-895x.00193Staub, E. (2006). Reconciliation after Genocide, Mass Killing, or Intractable Conflict: Understanding the Roots of Violence, Psychological Recovery, and Steps toward a General Theory. Political Psychology, 27(6), 867-894. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9221.2006.00541.

Documenting the legacies of the Chilean dictatorship: Questioning the family relationship in the documentary films El pacto de Adriana and El color del camaleon

[EN] The Chilean dictatorship is the subject of a number of recent non-fiction films in which the construction of Chile's collective memory also focuses on those who supported, collaborated or participated in the perpetration of the abuses and atrocities committed by the regime. In recent years, a new generation of Chilean filmmakers has emerged; among these are Andres Liibbert and Lissette Orozco, whose documentary films about the dictatorship, El color del camaleon ('The color of the chameleon') and El pacto de Adriana ('Adriana's pact'), respectively, were both released in 2017. In both films, the memorialization of Chile's past is associated with the exploration of family memories as the filmmakers engage with Chile's collective memory through family relationships. In this way, family becomes central to a parallel process in which the filmmakers engage in an ethical and emotional questioning of their relationships with their relatives and the family legacy, thereby triggering conflict within the family. This family conflict may be resolved in one of two possible ways: breakdown or reconciliation. The two documentary films studied here offer examples of each possibility, facilitating an exploration of this process and the potential impact of this approach to documenting family relationships.Canet Centellas, FJ. (2019). Documenting the legacies of the Chilean dictatorship: Questioning the family relationship in the documentary films El pacto de Adriana and El color del camaleon. International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics. 15(2):125-142. https://doi.org/10.1386/macp.15.2.125_1S12514215

Using Cinema to Understand Character Engagement in a Television Series: The Truman Show as Case Study

Canet Centellas, FJ. (2017). Using Cinema to Understand Character Engagement in a Television Series: The Truman Show as Case Study. The Journal of Popular Culture. 50(4):796-813. doi:10.1111/jpcu.12579S79681350

The New Realistic Trend in Contemporary World Cinema: Ramin Bahrani's Chop Shop as a Case Study

[EN] In the last two decades there has been an international resurgence of realistic films, i.e., films directed by filmmakers who believe in the ontological power of reality and, at the same time, in the capacity of the medium¿s expressive scope for building a story without undermining the viewer¿s impression of reality. On the one hand, this new movement is a rehabilitation of the cinematic Realism that throughout the history of film has touted cinema as an open window to the real world, a view particularly exemplified by Italian Neo-Realism. On the other hand, this new trend has given new life to the Realist film theories championed mainly by André Bazin and Siegfried Kracauer. Bazin defines the Realist style as ¿all narratives means tending to bring an added measure of reality to the screen¿ (1971, 27). In the article titled Neo-Neo Realism (2009), A. O. Scott discusses a number of filmmakers whom he categorizes within the new Realist trend in contemporary American independent cinema. Among these is Ramin Bahrani, director of the film Chop Shop (2007). Bahrani is a USborn filmmaker of Iranian origin, based in New York. Abbas Kiarostami is one of his main points of reference. Kiarostami, as Scott notes, ¿refined the old Neorealist spirit through the 1990s and into the next decade.¿ Bahrani himself acknowledges this influence with his desire to make ¿an Iranianstyle movie here in New York.¿Canet Centellas, FJ. (2013). The New Realistic Trend in Contemporary World Cinema: Ramin Bahrani's Chop Shop as a Case Study. Acta Universitatis Sapientiae. Film & Media Studies. 7:153-167. doi:10.2478/ausfm-2014-0021S153167

Changing times for scholarly communication: The case of the academic research video and the online video journal

[EN] This paper aims to address the video as a new scholarly communication form, alternative to the traditional written paper. Although the use of video could be a worthwhile option for any field of study in which videographic practice would facilitate the communication of the research findings and thus enhance our understanding of them, this practice seems especially useful when the object of study itself is the audiovisual language. For this reason and because the number of media scholars communicating their research outputs in videos has increased in recent years to the extent of becoming a new trend, I focus on the exploration of this practice in this discipline. However, could the video meet academic standards, and thus be considered as a new scholarly form? If the answer is affirmative, what exactly makes a video academic? Offering some answers to these questions is the main purpose of this article, which reviews how the transition from the written paper to the audiovisual form is evolving. This exploration will include not only these types of videos but also the online journals that make the publication of such videos possible, thereby facilitating a study of how these online platforms allow new ways of communicating research outputs in academic contexts.Canet Centellas, FJ. (2019). Changing times for scholarly communication: The case of the academic research video and the online video journal. El profesional de la información. 28(4):1-13. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2019.jul.06S11328

La fricción entre el azar y lo controlado en el cine de José Luis Guerin

[ES] La obra de José Luis Guerin es el pretexto perfecto para abordar la hibridación entre el cine de ficción y el documental. Este tipo de cine, que se encuentra en la frontera entre ambas formas de escritura cinematográfica, está cobrando una gran relevancia en el cine contemporáneo. Esta tendencia no es algo nuevo, sino una rehabilitación de un movimiento que nació con el propio medio y que ha ido alcanzando notoriedad en diferentes momentos de su historia. Asimismo, el estudio de la dialéctica entre la ficción y la realidad ha sido objeto de interés dentro del campo de los estudios fílmicos. En la actualidad está adquiriendo especial relevancia, a la par que está siendo abordada desde diferentes perspectivas. En concreto, en este artículo se estudia el ejercicio práctico del quehacer cinematográfico, centrándose en la relación que el cineasta en este caso Guerin establece con la realidad que es objeto de su mirada, y cómo esta se traduce en discurso fílmico como resultado de la combinación entre lo aleatorio y lo controlado a lo largo del proceso creativo.[EN] The work of José Luis Guerin provides the perfect opportunity to address the hybridization between fiction and documentary. This type of film situated on the border between these two cinematic forms is gaining increasing importance in contemporary cinema. This trend is not new but a revival of a movement that began with the medium itself and that has made a significant impact at different times in film history. The examination of the dialectic between fiction and reality has also long been of interest in the field of film studies, and is acquiring special relevance today, with studies approaching the question from different perspectives. Specifically in this article, this examination is oriented towards the practical exercise of filmmaking, focusing on the relationship between film-maker (in this case Guerin) with the reality that is the object of his gaze, and how this relationship translates into a filmic discourse as a result of the combination of the random and the controlled throughout the creative process.Canet Centellas, FJ. (2013). La fricción entre el azar y lo controlado en el cine de José Luis Guerin. Archivos de la Filmoteca. 72:145-159. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/50852S1451597

L Avventura: Emotions, engagement and inconclusiveness of an experimental plot

[EN] This article examines Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Avventura offering a new discussion of its narrative value, exploring the role of emotions and cognition in narrative, and their interaction. We believe the results of this study could reshape the current understanding of the film's main aesthetic properties. We agree with some of the main characteristics outlined previously by scholars and critics, regarding not only the film's plot structure but also its main stylistic features. In our view, the different hypotheses that spectators may be encouraged to formulate while watching the film are central to their aesthetic and critical experience. Our analysis of the whole set of narrative disruptions points to the conclusion that films achieves a convergence and interaction between the elicitation of active aesthetic reflection and the elicitation of active social reflection in a way that had never been done before.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad. Gobierno de Espana [Theoretical Innovation Strategies in the Analysis of Narration in Television Series (CSO2014-51872-R).].Pérez López, HJ.; Canet Centellas, FJ. (2018). L Avventura: Emotions, engagement and inconclusiveness of an experimental plot. Cogent Arts & Humanities. 5(1):1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2018.14786971135

Shared secrets: Web 2.0 and research in Social Sciences

[EN] Web 2.0 represents a revolution in terms of the possibilities it offers for facilitating communication and collaboration between users something that has become increasingly common in the world of research. A mere few years ago, the information produced by scientists and scholars remained in the hands of a very limited circle of institutions and publishers, as if it were a guarded secret. Today that secret is being shouted from the rooftops and shared with the rest of the scientific community in order to make it more accessible and to allow new advances. A clear example of this can be found in the social sciences, where there is a constant increase in the production of articles and materials that in turn serve for the pursuit of further research, thereby promoting the continuous development of scientific knowledge. This new situation is being fostered by the proliferation of tools and applications that make it possible, but also by a change in mentality towards a philosophy of exchange and open access. In this article, we will examine this phenomenon using a methodological system based on the analysis of platforms for the exchange of scientific knowledge, and especially social networks (both general and specialising in the social sciences), in order to demonstrate their potential in a society that is becoming increasingly aware of the need to overcome physical or institutional boundaries and move forward together.[FR] Le Web 2.0 représente une révolution en termes de contribution au développement de la communication et collaboration entre les usagers. Cela est devenu de plus en plus commun dans le monde des chercheurs. Il y a très peu de temps, le savoir produit par les scientifiques était accessible seulement aux institutions et maisons d’éditions comme si c’était un secret. La situation est en train de changer aujourd’hui car, d’une part, on est face à un phénomène de prolifération des outils et applications qui rendent ce savoir accessible et, d’autre part, on est témoins à un changement qui met au centre une philosophie de l’échange et de l’accès ouvert. Dans cet article, on examinera ces phénomènes à l’aide d’une méthodologie basée sur l’analyse des plateformes d’échange du savoir scientifique, c’est-à-dire des réseaux sociaux généraux ou spécialisés en sciences sociales afin de montrer leur potentiel dans une société qui devient de plus en plus consciente du besoin de progresser au delà des frontières physiques ou institutionnellesMartorell Fernández, SM.; Canet Centellas, FJ. (2013). Shared secrets: Web 2.0 and research in Social Sciences. ESSACHESS - Journal for Communication Studies. 6(2):45-64. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/51123S45646

The Global Crisis and Academic Communication: The Challenge of Social Networks in Research

The global economic crisis is seriously affecting academic research. The situation is provoking some big changes and an urgent need to seek alternatives to traditional models. It is as if the academic community was reinventing itself; and this reinvention is happening online. Faced with a lack of funding, researchers have determined to help each other develop their projects and they are doing so on social knowledge networks that they have created for this mission. The purpose of this paper is to analyze different social networks designed for academic online research. To this end, we have made a selection of these networks and established the parameters for their study in order to determine what they consist of, what tools they make use of, what advantages they offer and the degree to which they are bringing about a revolution in how research is carried out. This analysis is conducted from both a qualitative and a quantitative perspective, allowing us to identify the percentage of these networks that approach what would be the ideal social knowledge network. As we will be able to confirm, the closer they are to this ideal, the more effective they will be and the better future they will have, which will also depend on the commitment of users to participation and the quality of their contributions.Martorell Fernández, SM.; Canet Centellas, FJ. (2013). The Global Crisis and Academic Communication: The Challenge of Social Networks in Research. Journal of Communication and Computer. 10:1031-1041. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/65625S103110411