REALITY AND TRAUMA IN DOCUMENTARY FILM (SILENCE OF REASON BY KUMJANA NOVAKOVA AND IRON CASTLE BY MITKO PANOV)
Keywords:
documentary film, trauma, reality, media articulation, archival memory, spaceAbstract
The study investigates the complexity of the relationship between reality and trauma in contemporary documentary film. Through the analysis of Silence of Reason and Iron Castle, it demonstrates that trauma cannot be directly articulated, but becomes visible through media strategies such as silence, extended shots, spatial exploration, and author–subject interaction. Both films confirm that the documentary is not merely a mirror of reality, but a critical and ethical mediator that actualizes and reconstructs traumatic memory, whether on individual or collective level.
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