Screening Social Justice: Brave New Films and Documentary Activism

by Sherry B Ortner

Overview

In Screening Social Justice, award-winning anthropologist Sherry B. Ortner presents an ethnographic study of Brave New Films, a nonprofit film production company that makes documentaries intended to mobilize progressive grassroots activism. Ortner positions the work of the company within a tradition of activist documentary filmmaking and within the larger field of “alternative media” that is committed to challenging the mainstream media and telling the truth about the world today. The company’s films cover a range of social justice issues, with particular focus on the hidden workings of capitalism, racism, and right-wing extremism. Beyond the films themselves, Brave New Films is also famous for its creative distribution strategies. All of the films are available for free on YouTube. Central to the intention of promoting political activism, the films circulate through networks of other activist and social justice organizations and are shown almost entirely in live screenings in which the power of the film is amplified. Ortner takes the reader inside both the production process and the screenings to show how a film can be made and used to mobilize action for a better world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781478016861
Publisher:	Duke University Press
Publication date:	03/21/2023
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.44(d)

About the Author

Sherry B. Ortner is Distinguished Research Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the author of Not Hollywood: Independent Film at the Twilight of the American Dream, Anthropology and Social Theory: Culture, Power, and the Acting Subject, and New Jersey Dreaming: Capital, Culture, and the Class of ’58, all also published by Duke UniversityPress.

Table of Contents

Preface  ix
Acknowledgments  xi
Introduction  1
1. Brave New Films in the Mediascape  19
2. Critical Agency: The Power of Truth  31
3. Networked Agency: The Power of the Social  52
4. Affective Agency: The Power of the Film  73
5. The Impact Question, and Conclusions  97
Notes  113
Filmography  121
References  127
Index

What People are Saying About This

Faye Ginsburg

“Screening Social Justice is a lively anthropological study of Brave New Films, a model of activist documentary production. Addressing sophisticated concepts through accessible, engaged prose, this book is a valuable study of political agency in contemporary media making. Its timely relevance grows every day. I love this book.”

Story Movements: How Documentaries Empower People and Inspire Social Change - Caty Borum Chattoo

“Written in a clear and evocative style, Screening Social Justice is a welcome addition to the canon of documentary works that address contemporary social justice work in the digital media age. Brave New Films was pathbreaking in utilizing the internet’s mobilizing potential and absolutely deserves the rigorous attention it receives in this important book.”

Editorial Reviews

"A fascinatingly immersive study. . . ."

Contemporary Sociology - Howard Lune

"Screening Social Justice is an accessible story about BNF and the potential power of social justice documentary films. . . . While framed as an ethnography, the book stands as a useful guide for documentary filmmakers, social scientists, and university students who desire to use their craft to activate community members and promote policy change. This book is highly recommended."

Journal of Anthropological Research - Marty Otañez

"Ortner’s analysis encourages readers to critically assess media accounts and consider the ethical implications of documentary activity. Focusing on bold new films, the book offers valuable insight into the production process, the challenges faced by activist filmmakers, and the strategies they use to effectively convey their message."

Social Identities - Kaniphnath Malhari Kudale

"In addition to scholars within anthropology, cultural studies, and documentary film studies, Screening Social Justice will benefit reading by a range of disciplines and scholars, including those interested in or intersecting with audience research, media studies and industries, disinformation studies, political ethnography, and political science."

Journal of Popular Culture - Kathryn Burrell

"Screening Social Justice is not a traditional study of film. What makes this book particularly valuable is Ortner’s interrogation of terms such as truth, affect, and agency in the context of documentary film. For some 23 years BNF has produced films on a wide range of topics—including the war on democratic governance, systematic racism, xenophobia, and the abuses of capitalism—and Ortner introduces the reader to the company’s corpus. She concludes by addressing the notion of impact, which is arguably one of the driving forces in the renaissance of documentary filmmaking in the first decades of the 21st century. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals."
 

Choice - G. R. Butters Jr.

"Ortner’s book is a good piece of media anthropology that helps us understand the backstage of a socially committed documentary production company. Such works are fundamental to help us think that films can help change the world but not without much work and effort."

European Journal of Communication - Marta Corrêa Machado

"[A] fascinating ethnographic study of a nonprofit production company. . . . Ortner provides extensive research on the history of activist documentary filmmaking. The book’s compelling exploration of the documentary Suppressed: The Fight To Vote reveals how it evokes various emotions during a film screening and examines its call to action. Ortner’s deep dive is so effective in describing the film’s storytelling method that it may inspire readers to seek out Suppressed and other Brave New Films works."

Library Journal - Anjelica Rufus-Barnes

"Screening Social Justice is not a traditional study of film. What makes this book particularly valuable is Ortner's interrogation of terms such as truth, affect, and agency in the context of documentary film. For some 23 years BNF has produced films on a wide range of topics--including the war on democratic governance, systematic racism, xenophobia, and the abuses of capitalism--and Ortner introduces the reader to the company's corpus. She concludes by addressing the notion of impact, which is arguably one of the driving forces in the renaissance of documentary filmmaking in the first decades of the 21st century. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals."
--G. R. Butters Jr. "Choice" (1/1/2024 12:00:00 AM)

"Ortner's analysis encourages readers to critically assess media accounts and consider the ethical implications of documentary activity. Focusing on bold new films, the book offers valuable insight into the production process, the challenges faced by activist filmmakers, and the strategies they use to effectively convey their message."--Kaniphnath Malhari Kudale "Social Identities" (8/25/2023 12:00:00 AM)

"[A] fascinating ethnographic study of a nonprofit production company. . . . Ortner provides extensive research on the history of activist documentary filmmaking. The book's compelling exploration of the documentary Suppressed: The Fight To Vote reveals how it evokes various emotions during a film screening and examines its call to action. Ortner's deep dive is so effective in describing the film's storytelling method that it may inspire readers to seek out Suppressed and other Brave New Films works."--Anjelica Rufus-Barnes "Library Journal" (4/1/2023 12:00:00 AM)

From the Publisher