Abstact

This article is part of an investigation about the representation of genocides in documentary film. On this occasion, we will concentrate on exposing some ethical problems that may arise in the representation of genocide in documentary films. Documentary theorists such as Brian Winston, Carl Plantinga, and Bill Nichols have set out two main axes around ethics and documentary: the duties of the filmmaker towards the spectator –in terms of truth-falsehood– and towards the subjects represented. The analysis of this last direction leads to coincide those investigations with the analysis of the genocide studies; that is, the analysis of the “human element”. This article, then, proposes a cross between the analysis of the perpetrator-victim-bystander theorized in the context of the genocide studies with those perspectives that have problematized in ethical terms the representation of people in Documentary film. Along the way, we will not only seek to deepen it but also explore what other roles documentary film can establish in the representation of various genocide cases.

Key Words: Documentary Film │ Ethics │ Genocide │ Representation