Cinema and authenticity: anxieties in the making of historical film*. Issue 2 (1st September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lees, Dominic
• Is Part Of: Journal of media practice. Volume 17:Issue 2/3(2016)
• Page Start: 199
• Page End: 212
• Publication Date: 2016-09-01
• Subjects: Historical film -- authenticity -- verisimilitude -- memory; Journalism -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; Mass media -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; 302.23071141
• DOI: 10.1080/14682753.2016.1248190
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1468-2753

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The practice of representing history on film brings the filmmaker into collision with a cluster of concerns around the authentic. While recent articles have considered the historical documentary and historical dramatisation, I seek to extend the debate into narrative fiction film set in historical periods. In this article, I discuss conflicting conceptions of authenticity. Through my own practice-as-research, I examine the decision-making within the preproduction of a historical drama (my short film, The Burning, 2016) in order to demonstrate the ways in which contradictory concepts of authenticity can coexist within a historical film project.