The Specifics of Testifying to Traumatic Events in Documentary Cinematography (Based on Joshua Oppenheimer's Duology)

This study is devoted to the specifics of testimonies about traumatic events in the documentary genre on the material of films by the American director Joshua Oppenheimer “The Act of Killing” (2012) and “The Look of Silence” (2014). The relevance of the study is determined by the raised awareness about local problems in the twentieth century postcolonial and decolonial discourse. The methodology used includes narrative analysis according to W. Schmid and discourse analysis by T.A. Van Dijk. The first part of the study provides a theoretical basis for further analysis and conceptualizes the theories of individual, collective and cultural memory, and describes methods of constructing trauma through cultural artifacts, particularly documentary films, and characteristics of witnesses to catastrophic events. In addition, the theoretical section examines two memorialization strategies of D. LaCapra, as well as the roles of “post-memory” and “secondary” witness. In the empirical part of the work, the historical context of the events of 1965-1966 in Indonesia is found, and analytical work is carried out on the films of J. Oppenheimer. Key words: trauma, eye-witnessing, memory, cinematography, repressions