The alterity of the image: the distant spectator and films about the syrian revolution and war

Abstract

Images of the Syrian crisis, circulating on the international film festival circuit as well as in mainstream and social media, help to construct narratives about those events, people and places. This article explores how three Syrian documentaries-Silvered Water: Syria Self-Portrait, The War Show and Little Gandhi-appeal to their distant spectators and how the international film festival circuit shapes their aesthetic form. While the use of citizen videos in news reporting has generated a sense of familiarity with the audiovisual style and iconography of Syrian conflict imagery, these films invite us to look at their footage in a different way, foregrounding an experience of cultural distance through an emphasis on the formal qualities of the image. By focusing on the aesthetic rather than merely evidentiary qualities of these documentaries, I draw out a particular kind of transnational cinematic encounter in which, to borrow John Berger's words, 'meaning is a response not only to the known, but to the unknown'. Drawing upon the work of Berger and Laura Marks, the article offers a new conceptualization of distant spectatorship in terms of the alterity of the image.

Resisting extractivism as a feminist critical socio‐spatial practice

“…When faced with the evidence of imposed financial and resource exploitation, brutal police assaults, massive environmental destruction, and democratic collapse, the answer is not very difficult.” In all three video installations, the images have a performative effect on both the events they reveal and the audience they address. Chaudhuri (2018) calls this unfolding the “performance of alterity.” The techniques of repetition, silences, and split camera shots support this process by disrupting the singularity of meaning in favor of embracing multiplicity and alterity.…”

“…In all three video installations, the images have a performative effect on both the events they reveal and the audience they address. Chaudhuri (2018) calls this unfolding the "performance of alterity." The techniques of repetition, silences, and split camera shots support this process by disrupting the singularity of meaning in favor of embracing multiplicity and alterity.…”