Anonymity and representation: Everyday practices of ethical documentary filmmaking

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dc.contributor.authorBlomfield, Isobel
dc.contributor.authorLenette, Caroline
dc.contributor.editorHemelryk Donald, Stephanieen
dc.contributor.editorSorbera, Luciaen
dc.date.accessioned2019-12-10T13:48:32Z
dc.date.available2019-12-10T13:48:32Z
dc.date.issued2019
dc.description.abstractThe five-minute film Mouth of a Shark (Isobel Blomfield, 2018) conveys a young woman’s experiences and precarious situation while she awaits an outcome on her refugee status determination in Australia. Aasiya (pseudonym) lives in community detention. Her interest in creating the film stemmed from her own acknowledgement that she had a platform as a young, literate asylum seeker woman with a “strong” story, and was therefore in a position to portray asylum seekers in a positive light. However, she cannot be identified in the film, even though it depicts her story, due to concerns over safety and her claim for asylum. We use this example to illustrate issues of anonymity and representation, and suggest strategies in line with our commitment to avoid depersonalising tropes in filmmaking. While we are committed to ensuring that people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds exercise agency in filmmaking, protecting Aasiya’s identity had to prevail. We wanted to avoid depersonalising tropes, and instead devised filming strategies that were more respectful of the protagonist and, within the constraint of anonymity, ensured that Aasiya could still represent her story in meaningful ways. We argue for an ethical model that reconciles the need for both anonymity and representation in filmmaking, especially through collaborative editing.en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationBlomfield, I. and Lenette, C. (2019) 'Anonymity and representation: Everyday practices of ethical documentary filmmaking', Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, 18, pp. 175-182. https://doi.org/10.33178/alpha.18.13en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.33178/alpha.18.13
dc.identifier.endpage182
dc.identifier.issn2009-4078
dc.identifier.issued18
dc.identifier.journalabbrevAlphaville
dc.identifier.journaltitleAlphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Mediaen
dc.identifier.startpage175
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/9402
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherFilm and Screen Media, University College Corken
dc.relation.urihttp://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue18/Dossier1BlomfieldLenette.pdf
dc.rights© 2019, the Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subjectRefugeesen
dc.subjectAsylum seekersen
dc.subjectFilmmakingen
dc.subjectAnonymityen
dc.subjectRepresentationen
dc.titleAnonymity and representation: Everyday practices of ethical documentary filmmakingen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media. Issue 18: Refugee Filmmaking