Memory and documentary film

In Argentina, the views of the last dictatorship have been changing since the   return to democracy. Nowadays, we can’t find a crystallized memory about it, but we find ourselves in front of different  ways of remembering. We can affirm that since 2003, some events, such as the reopening of the trials to judge the responsible for state terrorism, make us think about a new state role in the way of carrying out the politics of memory.

As we consider the cinematographic documentary as a social practice of memory, we will analyze the use of the audiovisual  tools and the speeches which appear in the films, to show the different forms of rebuilding and expressing memories. Particularly, we will focus on the significations which the testimonies and the ways of representation in the cinematographic documentary acquire, to take into account their  political effects and the subject of the enunciation that is pretended  to be  presented as legitimate.

To carry out our aim, we will analyze the documentary films that were made from year 2003 to year 2010, which portray the events that have taken place during the last dictatorship. Special attention will be given  to state terrorism, the human rights violations and their current consequences.