Human Rights in Documentary Cinema

Timetable

1. The course begins on 3 March 2026
2. Classes: Tuesdays, 9:45 am – 1 pm
3. Office hours: Tuesdays, 8:30–9:30 am
4. Place: The Theatre Studio in Collegium Maius AMU, 10 Fredry str. (entrance from the library hall, behind the main building, from Kowalczyka lane)

 

Module aim (aims)

The course aims to teach how to:

1. carry out in-depth interdisciplinary studies of contemporary documentary filmmaking on human rights violations
2. investigate selected cases in their cultural, economic, historical, political, and religious contexts
3. analyse and interpret creative outputs of leading contemporary documentary cineastes
4. scrutinise selected problem areas, select cases, critically assess materials related to them, and share findings in the framework of a group presentation or a pair essay.

The course employs different teaching-learning methods, such as: discussions, essays written in pairs, lectures with Q&A, presentations, and seminars.

Assesment

Students are assessed on the base of the following assignments:

1. active participation in the classes (50% of the grade)
2. a 20-slide group presentation or a 2,000-word essay written in pairs (35% of the grade)
3. a written test on subjects discussed during the course (15% of the grade).

Grades

1. 90–100% = 5 / A
2. 85–89% = 4,5 / B
3. 75–84% = 4 / C
4. 70–74% = 3,5 / D
5. 60–69% = 3 / E
6. 0–59% = 2 / F (Failed)

Assessment criteria

1. meeting deadlines
2. quality of written homework
3. quality of preparation to consultations
4. quality of a group presentation (approach to the subject matter, distribution of workload within the group, collaboration with others, language precision, selection of iconography, graphic design)
5. quality of a pair essay (approach to the subject matter, language precision, writing style, text composition and formatting, respecting word limit).

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

English at B2 level (upper intermediate)

Genuine interest in human rights and contemporary film documentararies on their abuses.

Syllabus

WEEK I

Class 1 Introduction to the course (presentation)

Class 2 Guidelines for student work (presentation)

WEEK II

Class 3 Human rights (HR) in historical perspective (lecture with Q&A)

Class 4 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (lecture with Q&A and discussion)

WEEK III

Class 5 Students present the challenges of respecting HR in their home contexts (discussion)

Class 6 HR docs and their ethical dimension (lecture with Q&A)

WEEK IV

Class 7 Challenges of today’s world as represented in Dear Future Children (2021) (discussion)

Class 8 Genocide (lecture with Q&A)

WEEK V

Class 9 Analysis and interpretation of Silence (1998) (seminar)

Class 10 The US civil rights movement (lecture with Q&A)

WEEK VI

Class 11 Analysis and interpretation of I Am Not Your Negro (2016) (seminar)

Class 12 The 1965–66 mass killings in Indonesia (lecture with Q&A)

WEEK VII

Class 13 Analysis and interpretation of The Act of Killing (2012) (seminar)

Class 14 Forced disappearances and torture after the 1973 military coup in Chile (lecture with Q&A)

WEEK VIII

Class 15 Analysis and interpretation of Nostalgia for the Light (2010) (seminar)

Class 16 The 1975–79 Khmer Rouge political and class genocide in Cambodia (lecture with Q&A)

WEEK IX

Class 17 Analysis and interpretation of The Missing Picture (2013) (seminar)

Class 18 Violations of women’s rights (lecture with Q&A)

WEEK X

Class 19 Analysis and interpretation of Sonita (2016) (seminar)

Class 20 War crimes committed during the war in Syria (since 2011) (lecture with Q&A)

WEEK XI

Class 21 Analysis and interpretation of For Sama (2019) (seminar)

Class 22 Violations of migrants’ rights as represented in Les Sauteurs (2016) (lecture with Q&A)

WEEK XII

Class 23 A group presentation (workshop)

Class 24 A pair essay (workshop)

WEEK XIII

Class 25 Self-immolations as vehicles of protest with reference to Ask No Questions (2020) (lecture with Q&A)

Class 26 Colonia Dignidad, a German enclave in Chile, as represented in Songs of Repression (2020) (lecture with Q&A)

WEEK XIV

Class 27 Sharing of students’ group presentations (presentations and discussion)

Class 28 Sharing of students’ pair essays (presentations and discussion)

WEEK XV

Class 29 Challenges of today’s world (discussion)

Class 30 What new laws could better protect us from the abuses of power? (discussion); summary and feedback

Reading list

Texts

1. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/ or https://www.un.org/en/udhrbook/pdf/udhr_booklet_en_web.pdf. Accessed 2 Feb 2022.
2. Copley, Jessica. “Modes of Representing the Holocaust: A Discussion of the Use of Animation in Art Spiegelman’s ‘Maus’ and Orly Yadin and Sylvie Bringas’s ‘Silence’.” Opticon 1826, issue 9, Autumn 2010, pp. 1–2 and 8–15.
3. “I Am Not Your Negro: A Discussion Guide.” Influence Film Club, pp. 1–2. https://learn.kera.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/I-Am-Not-Your-Negro-DG-Film-Club.pdf. Accessed: 26 Jan 2023.
4. Behlil, Melis. “The Act of Killing: An Interview with Joshua Oppenheimer.” Cineaste, vol. 38, no. 3, 2013, pp. 26–31.
5. Guest, Haden. “Ad Astra per Aspera: An Interview with Patricio Guzmán.” Cineaste, vol. 36, no. 3, 2011, pp. 20–25.
6. Boyle, Deidre. “On a Morality of Filming: Conversation with Rithy Panh.” Cineaction, no. 97, 2016, pp. 39–44.
7. Ball, Anna. “A Conflict of Values: Redirecting Agency in ‘Sonita’.” Ball, Anna. Forced Migration in the Feminist Imagination: Transcultural Movements. Routledge, 2022, pp. 81–90.
8. Stevens, Isabel. “Every Minute Was Important.” [Interview with Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts.] Sight and Sound, vol. 29, no. 10, 2019, pp. 35–37.
9. Aftab, Kaleem. “A New Documentary About African Refugees Was Filmed by a Refugee as He Fled to Europe.” Vice, 27 Feb 2016. https://www.vice.com/en/article/bnp4d4/those-who-jump-is-a-documentary-about-refugees-filmed-by-a-refugee. Accessed: 26 Jan 2023.
10. Rabing, Angela. “Can Images Shape the Future? A Conversation with Director About Bakar Sidibé.” Mecam, 3 Feb 2022, updated 7 Jun 2022. https://trafo.hypotheses.org/32373. Accessed: 26 Jan 2023.
11. Ziółkowski, Grzegorz. A Cruel Theatre of Self-Immolations: Suicide Protests by Fire and Their Resonances in Culture, Routledge, 2020, pp. 67–69.
12. Ziółkowski, Grzegorz. “Documentary Filmmakers Confront Trauma: An Interview with Marianne Hougen-Moraga and Estephan Wagner.” Journal of Scandinavian Cinema, vol. 11, no. 3, 2021, pp. 267–282.

All texts are available in the Files/Pliki section of the relevant MS TEAMS group.

Films

1. Dear Future Children. Directed by Franz Böhm, 2021.
2. Silence. Directed by Sylvie Bringas and Orly Yadin, 1998.
3. I Am Not Your Negro. Directed by Raoul Peck, 2016.
4. The Act of Killing. Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer, co-dir. Christine Cynn, and Anonymous, 2012.
5. Nostalgia for the Light. Directed by Patricio Guzmán, 2010.
6. The Missing Picture. Directed by Rithy Panh, 2013.
7. Sonita. Directed by Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami, 2016.
8. For Sama. Directed by (pseud.) Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts, 2019.
9. Les Sauteurs. Directed by Abou Bakar Sidibé, Moritz Siebert, and Estephan Wagner, 2016.
10. Ask No Questions. Directed by Jason Loftus and Eric Pedicelli,
11. Songs of Repression. Directed by Marianne Hougen-Moraga and Estephan Wagner, 2020.

All films are available in the “HRDC” file in OneDrive. Relevant links are provided by the lecturer.