Cirrus@Austlit

'When the call for articles for this special issue of Studies in Documentary Film went out last year, in addition to a large number of excellent submissions, I received one or two interesting e-mails from scholars and filmmakers regarding the ‘Documentary Films After 9/11’ focus. One of the more provocative commentaries on the topic indicated that to use the events of September 11, 2001 as some type of milestone for documentary film was to place the United States (yet again) at the centre of our understanding of popular culture and media in general, and documentary film specifically, and to ignore the myriad other social, economic and technological factors that have impacted the development and evolution of documentary film in recent years (such as the democratic possibilities provided by low-cost, high-quality digital cameras). Or, as the person summarized the issue: 9/11 is often used in our discussion of the development of documentary film because it is simply ‘the easiest binary indicator available’.' (Editorial introduction)

'In recent months Studies in Documentary Film has been inundated with a plethora of rigorous, inventive and wide-ranging approaches to the documentary film in all its forms. Alongside the attention to the latest theoretical approaches and the ever-evolving multifarious forms we have always insisted upon the historical dimension to documentary film studies. In this issue we have maintained this variety of approaches with the inclusion of Jillian Smith’s rereading of Frederick Wiseman’s Titicut Follies (1968). Rather than imposing the ideas of Walter Benjamin on to the film, Smith works with the film and Benjamin’s ideas to propose a new appreciation of Wiseman’s film as an example of the historical fragment and, in doing this, opens the work for documentary film theory more readily. Similarly, James Leggott and Tobias Hochscherf reinvigorate recent scholarship on the Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA) by introducing the relationship struck between the Amber Film Collective and DEFA in the 1980s as an historical moment which contributes to the ongoing writing of documentary film history. Saër Maty Bâ in his “Visualizing rhythm, transforming relationship: jazz and Seven Songs for Malcolm X” considers what John Akonfrah’s work has to contribute to the idea of black aesthetics. Due to some communications and administrative errors Studies in Documentary Film published “Problematizing (black) documentary aesthetics: John Akomfrah’s use of intertextuality in Seven Songs for Malcolm X (1993) in SDF 1.3. an outmoded version of “Visualizing rhythm”. We apologise to Saër Maty Bâ and our readers for this oversight and hope that “Visualizing rhythm” represents the full force of Saër’s research.' (Editorial introduction)